f 


I 


Srom  f  ^e  feiBrari?  of 

({)rofe66or  WifPtam  ^cnt^  (Brcen 

Q$equcaf^eb  fig  ^im  to 
f^e  feifirarg  of 

(prtnceton  S^eofogtcaf  ^emtnarg 

E>S155^ 
.T242 


V 

0 

L. 

K    . 

Q,  ^ 

0 

■0  0 

C  CQ 

«  » 

|5 

Q^s 

«)   0 

£  ■" 

-  "C 

■?;  « 

THE 


TIMES    OF    DANIEL 


AN  ARGUMENT. 


HENRY    W.    TAYLOR,  LL.D., 

LATE  A  JUSTICE  OF  THE  SUPREME   COUST   AND  JUDGE   OF  THE  COUBT  OF 
APPEALS  OF  NEW  TORE. 


NEW  YOEK: 

ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  CO., 

770  BaoADWAT,  cor.  9th  Street. 

1871. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

ANSON  D.   F.   RANDOLPH   &   CO., 
In  the  OflSce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


E.   0.   JENKINS, 

STEREOTYPER    AND    PRINTER, 

SO  N.  WILLIAM  ST.,  N.  Y. 


SYNOPSIS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Prefatory 9 

CHAPTER  n. 
Introductory IT 

CHAPTER  IIL 
Announcement  of  tlie  Messiali ^ 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Subjection  of  the  Saints  to  Anticluist 23 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Answer  of  Palmoni.     2400  Years 80 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Chronological  Corrections 4i; 

CHAPTER  Vn. 
Addition  of  21  to  the  2400  Years ; 49 

CHAPTER  Vm. 

Symbol  of  the  Ram  with  Horns 5G 

Note  to  Chapter  viii 6:' 

(3) 


4  STWOPSIS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Symbol  of  the  He-goat 73 

CHAPTER  X. 
Somewhat  more  of  tho  Ram  and  He-goat 82 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Holy  City  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles  1300  years 104 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The  same  subject  continued 109 

CHAPTER  XIIT. 
The  Restoration  of  the  Jews 115 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  same  subject  continued 120 

CHAPTER  xV. 
The  Twelfth  Chapter  of  Daniel 130 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
1290  and  1335  Years 139 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Twelfth  Chapter— Twelfth  Verse 144 

CHAPTER  XVIIL 
The  Close  of  the  Christian  Dispensation 148 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Corroborative  proofs  from  other  Scriptures 163 


SYI^OPSIS.  5 

CHAPTER  XX. 
Third  Chapter,  Second  of  Peter,  Tenth  Verse 1G5 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Answer  of  Christ  to  his  Disciples— Matt.  Chapter  sxiv  ...   177 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
The  Coming  of  our  Lord 18'^ 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
The  Millennium 193 

CHAPTER  XXrV. 
Summary  and  Conclusion 200 


TO  THE  READER. 

IT  is  a  natural  presumption  on  the  part  of  the 
reader  of  this  argument,  that  its  preparation 
was  prompted  by  the  recent  wonderful  develop- 
ments which  have  signalized  the  history  of  Europe. 

So  far  from  that,  the  whole  argument,  excepting 
the  tenth  chapter,  and  the  note  to  the  eighth,  was 
in  manuscript,  with  the  design  of  immediate  pub- 
lication, near  four  years  ago. 

Some  may  think  they  discover  a  discrepancy  of 
one  or  two  years,  between  the  time  when  certain 
events  ought  to  have  occurred,  according  to  my 
system,  and  their  actual  occurrence.  The  writer 
admits  no  such  discrepancy,  beyond  that  resulting 
from  probable  errors  in  certain  ancient  chronologi- 
cal eras. 

The  fixing  dates  to  the  fulfillment  of  Daniel's 
prophecy,  has  become  a  somewhat  unpopular  en- 
terprise. In  the  commencement  of  this  argument, 
the  writer  had  no  premeditated  design  of  placing 

(7) 


8  TO   THE  READER. 

the  final  dates  where  they  are  found.  But  this  fea- 
ture in  the  case,  is  only  the  necessary  sequence  of 
the  argument.  The  writer  would  be  just  as  well 
satisfied  if  his  reasoning  had  led  to  different  results. 
The  radical  principle  of  the  theory  presented  is, 
that  the  last  six  chapters  of  Daniel,  (except  per- 
haps the  first  seven  verses  of  the  seventh  chapter, 
which  are  necessarily  introductory,)  are  devoted 
exclusively  to  visions  relating  to  the  Christian  dis- 
pensation ;  and  in  this  consists  my  fundamental 
divergence  from  all  former  systems  of  exegesis  ol 
this  prophecy. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PREFATORY. 

IT  is  many  years  since  I  became  distrustful  of 
some  of  the  prevalent  notions  concerning  the 
prophecy  of  Daniel.  All  the  commentaries  I  had 
seen  appeared  to  leave  it  deficient  in  some  respects, 
in  symmetry  and  system  ;  and  indeed,  to  blend 
together  those  things,  especially  relating  to  time, 
which  ought  to  be  kept  separate ;  assuming,  for 
instance,  that  as  two  terms  of  time  were  of  the 
same  duration,  they  therefore  begin  and  end  at  the 
same  period.  As  the  leading  example,  I  quote 
from  Faber :  "At  the  end  of  1260  days,  the  judg- 
ment will  sit,  and  the  dominion  of  the  papal  horn, 
or  the  little  horn  of  the  fourth  beast,  will  be  utterly 
destroyed  by  the  Son  of  man :  at  the  end  of  the 
same  1260  days,  the  king,  who  magnified  himself 
above  every  god,  will  undertake  the  expedition, 
which  will  terminate  in  his  destruction;  and  at 
I*  (9) 


10  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

that  very  time,  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  will  com- 
mence. At  the  end  of  the  same  1260  days,  the  ten- 
horned  beast,  which  was  to  practice  prosperously 
in  his  revived  state  fort3^-two  prophetic  months,  and 
along  with  him,  his  false  prophet,  will  be  ultimately, 
that  is,  at  the  end  of  those  forty-two  months,  defeated 
in  a  great  battle  with  the  personal  word  of  God  ;  and 
lastly,  the  man  of  sin  will  finally,  and  therefore,  at 
the  end  of  the  same  1260  days,  be  consumed  with 
the  spirit  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord,  and  destroyed 
with  the  brightness  of  his  coming."  To  the  same 
purport  Mr.  Whiston,  in  his  Essay  on  the  Revela- 
tion of  St.  John,  at  page  'jd :  "  Not  only  the-  neces- 
sity of  chronological  synchronisms,  but  the  evident 
force  of  common  reason  obliges  us  to  acquiesce, 
and  to  esteem  these  five  several  prophecies,  in  the 
main,  collateral  and  contemporary." 

A  more  careful  examination  has  convinced  me 
that  errors  have  crept  in,  not  only  in  the  applica- 
tion of  the  prophet's  developments  to  chronology, 
but  in  the  generally  accepted  chronology  itself. 
With  very  few  variations,  I  wrote  the  four  chap- 
ters of  this  essay,  commencing  with  the  third,  more 
than  five  years  ago,  and  subsequent  investigation 
on  my  part,  and  events  in  the  ecclesiastical  world, 
have  tended  very  much  to  strengthen  my  former 
convictions. 


PEEFATOBY.  II 

Following  the  lead  of  the  most  eminent  writers 
on  Daniel,  I  had  assumed  the  year  606  as  that  in 
which  Boniface  was  constituted  supreme  Pontiff. 
More  careful  research,  however,  has  satisfied  me 
that  this  is  an  error.  He  was,  undoubtedly,  thus 
created  Universal  Bishop  in  607,  which  epoch  I 
have  accordingly  adopted.  This,  in  itself,  is  a 
small  matter,  but  as  it  is  the  epoch  from  which 
nearly  every  event  foretold  by  Daniel  is  reckoned, 
it  becomes  desirable  that  it  should  be  fixed,  as  far 
as  possible,  with  perfect  exactness.  In  a  matter 
the  value  of  which  depends  so  much  upon  chrono- 
logical accuracy,  as  in  this  prophecy,  I  have  been 
surprised  to  discover  so  many  most  obvious  and 
momentous  defects. 

The  ninth  chapter  commences  as  follows :  "  In 
the  first  year  of  Darius  the  Mede."  This  has  been 
assumed,  I  know  not  upon  what  hypothesis,  to 
have  been  the  year  538  before  Christ,  and  is  so 
noted  in  all  the  bibles  having  marginal  references. 
We  inquire  who  "  Darius  the  Mede,"  was,  and 
learn  that  he  was  undoubtedly  identical  with 
Cyaxeres,  the  son  and  successor  of  Astyages. 
Rollin,  in  his  second  volume,  at  page  97,  sec.  3, 
of  his  history  of  Cyrus,  says  :  "  Astyages,  king  of 
the  Medes,  dying,  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Cyaxeres,  brother  to  Cyrus'  mother."      This  ho 


12  THE  TIMES  OF  DANIEL. 

dates  560  B.  c.  A  writer  in  Rees'  Cyclopaedia, 
says :  "  Astyag-es,  after  a  reign  of  thirty-five  years, 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Cyaxeres,  560  b.  c, 
who  in  the  book  of  Daniel  is  called,  '  Darius  the 
Mede.'  "  Calmet  says,  "  Darius  the  Mede,  spoken 
of  in  Daniel,  was  son  of  Astyages,  king  of  the 
Medes,  and  brother  of  Mandane,  mother  of  Cyrus, 
and  Amyit  the  mother  of  Evil  Merodach,  and 
grandmother  of  Belshazzar.  The  Hebrew  names 
him  Dariovesch,  or  Darius ;  the  Septuagint  Arta- 
xerxes,  and  Xenophon  Cyaxeres."  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  Cyaxares,  or  Darius,  was  king  of  the 
Medes  560  b.  c.  It  is  presumed  that  the  date  of 
538,  as  the  first  year  of  Darius  the  Mede,  was 
adopted  on  the  authority  of  Archbishop  Usher, 
who  under  that  date,  says :  "  Darius  the  Mede, 
son  of  Assuaras  al.  Cyaxares,  the  son  of  Astyages, 
took  upon  him  the  kingdom,  delivered  to  him  by 
Cyrus,  the  Conqueror."  No  other  authority  has 
been  found,  and  it  does  not  appear  certain  that  the 
archbishop,  himself,  ever  countenanced  this  appli- 
cation, as  it  is  found  in  our  bibles. 

On  the  contrary,  he  in  another  place  says,  at  the 
year  before  Christ,  560,  "  In  the  kingdom  of 
Media,  upon  the  decease  of  Astyages,  called  Assu- 
eras,  succeeded  his  son,  Cyaxeres,  Cyrus'  mother's 
brother,  as  Xenophon  says,  to  wit :  in  the  begin- 


PBEFATOBT. 


13 


ning  of  the  first  year  of  the  55th  Olympiad,  thirty- 
one  years  before  the  decease  of  Cyrus,  which 
Cyaxeres,  Daniel  calleth,  Darius  the  Mcdc^ 

It  would  seem  just  as  absurd  to  call  the  year  538 
the  first  year  of  Darius  the  Mede,  because  he  re- 
ceived an  addition  to  his  kingdom  in  that  year,  as 
it  would  to  call  1867  the  first  year  of  WilHam,  King 
of  Prussia,  because  in  that  year  he  added  large 
provinces  to  his  former  kingdom.  This  mistake 
has  led  to  serious  errors.  The  compiler  of  Daniel's 
visions,  has  evidently  intended  to  arrange  them  in 
the  order  of  their  appearance.  He  has  placed  this 
ninth  chapter  after  the  seventh  and  eighth,  which 
is  right,  according  to  the  received  chronology, 
while,  if  this  correction  be  made,  it  would  properly 
be  placed  before  those  chapters,  and  thus  give  to 
the  whole  prophecy  a  symmetry,  which  appears  to 
be  wanting,  as  it  now  stands. 

Daniel's  visions,  commencing  with  the  ninth 
chapter,  followed  by  the  seventh  and  eighth,  and 
so  on  to  the  close,  constitute  one  continuous 
prophecy,  foreshadowing  the  most  important  mat- 
ters, touching  the  ministry  and  sacrifice  of  our 
Savior,  and  the  progress,  discouragements,  and 
final  triumph  of  God's  people ;  nearly  all  under 
symbolical  forms,  from  the  birth  of  Christ  to  the 
close  of  the  Christian  dispensation ;  and  they  re- 


14  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

late  to  nothing  else,  except  so  far  as  is  necessary  to 
elucidate  their  history. 

Taking  this  view  of  the  case,  his  first  vision,  as 
recorded  in  the  ninth  chapter,  initiates  the  whole 
prophecy,  by  giving  a  brief  account  of  the  coming 
ministry  and  death  of  our  Savior,  and  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Jews,  very  soon  thereafter,  under  Titus 
and  Adrian.  In  the  vision  recorded  in  the  seventh 
chapter,  he  had  a  general  view  of  the  church,  until 
the  close  of  the  Christian  dispensation  ;  and  also  a 
more  particular  one  of  the  delivery  of  the  saints 
into  the  power  of  antichrist,  with  an  account  of  the 
duration  of  their  subjection. 

In  the  eighth  chapter  he  gives  a  more  particular 
account  of  the  power  into  whose  hands  the  saints 
were  to  be  delivered,  under  the  similitude  of  the 
ram  with  horns,  with  a  statement  of  the  time  when 
their  subjection  to  this  antichristian  power  should 
cease  ;  and  also  introduces  the  he-goat  and  little 
horn  towards  the  south,  which  became  exceed- 
ingly great,  symbolizing  the  twin  apostacy  of 
Mahometanism. 

In  the  tenth  chapter  he  merely  corrects  matter 
which  might  possibly  mislead ;  or,  rather  gives 
more  minute  information  as  to  the  2400  years  men- 
tioned in  the  eighth  chapter,  which  was  liable,  as 
it  stood,  to  possible  misapprehension. 


PBEFATORY. 


15 


The  eleventh  chapter,  in  the  commencement, 
brings  forward  again  the  he-goat,  as  a  mighty  king, 
and  his  successors,  and  ends  with  the  overthrow  of 
JNIahometanism  in  the  Holy  Land. 

The  twelfth  chapter  gives  us,  in  its  opening,  in 
the  briefest  form,  an  epitome  of  wonderful  events 
to  occur  immediately  preceding  the  final  consum- 
mation :  as  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  ;  the  time  of 
unspeakable  tribulation ;  the  resurrection  of  some 
from  the  dead ;  and  after  giving  several  specifica- 
tions of  time,  and  their  duration,  closes  with  the 
announcement  of  final  bliss,  or  the  commencement 
of  the  millennium. 

As  the  times,  relating  to  different  events,  have 
been  unfortunately  blended  together,  to  the  great 
confusion  of  the  prophecy,  so  it  seems  to  me,  cer- 
tain great  events  have  been  confounded  with  each 
other,  only  because  in  describing  these  events,  hav- 
ing a  similarity  in  characteristics,  the  prophet  has 
used  similar  language.  The  idea  of  "  desolation," 
or  "  abomination  of  desolation,"  appears  four  times 
in  Daniel.  In  the  ninth  chapter,  it  evidently  refers 
to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  under  Titus  and 
Adrian.  In  the  eighth,  as  clearly  to  the  delivery 
of  the  saints  into  the  power  of  antichrist.  In  the 
eleventh,  to  the  desecration  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
Holy  Land  by  the  Mahometans,  Saracens  and  Turks, 


1 6  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

and  in  the  twelfth,  to  the  vSame  as  the  eighth,  the 
delivery  of  the  saints  into  subjection  to  the  anti- 
christian  power,  and  to  the  birth  of  Mahomctanism. 
It  will  be  inferred  from  these  prefatory  remarks, 
that  my  interpretation  of  this  prophecy  of  Daniel 
will  differ  essentially  from  those  which  have  here- 
tofore received  the  popular  approbation. 


CHAPTER  11. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

THERE  are  certain  events  foretold  in  the 
Scriptures  with  such  precision,  and  repeated 
so  often  and  with  such  steady  assurance,  that  one 
finds  it  difficult  to  exercise  proper  faith  in  them,  as 
a  divine  revelation,  and  at  the  same  time  doubt  their 
literal  fulfillment ;  especially  as  such  fulfillment  in- 
volves far  less  of  difficulty  than  any  of  the  expla- 
nations which  seek  to  evade  such  results. 

Nearly  all  Christians  believe  that  the  Mahometan 
delusion  will  come  to  an  end  at  no  distant  period 
of  time ;  and  this  faith  is  a  legitimate  result  from 
those  lights  which  emanate  from  Divine  revelation. 
So,  too,  all  Protestants  believe  that  the  power  of  the 
Romish  Hierarchy  will  vanish  at  about  the  same 
time ;  and  their  faith  is  drawn  from  the  same 
source. 

But  there  are  other  events  foretold  in  the  same 

(17) 


1 8  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

Scriptures,  with  equal  force  and  exactness,  and 
constantly  repeated,  about  which  our  notions  are 
vague,  even  if  many  sincere  Christians  have  not 
ceased  to  beheve  at  all,  falling  back  upon  the  old 
skepticism — "  Where  is  the  promise  of  His  com- 
ing?" 

More  than  one  hundred  years  ago  a  large  num- 
ber of  intelligent  and  devout  believers,  drawing 
their  inferences  from  a  very  careful  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  entertained  no  doubt  that  the  year  oi 
our  Lord,  1747,  would  unfold  wonderful  develop- 
ments in  the  fulfillment  of  Scripture  prophecy. 
Assuming  their  premises  to  have  been  correct,  their 
anticipations  were,  doubtless,  well-founded ;  while 
that  year  witnessed  the  occurrence  of  no  event  that 
at  all  corresponded  with  such  anticipations. 

They  grounded  their  reckoning  upon  the  answer 
of  one  saint,  or  Pahnofii,  the  wonderful  numberer, 
to  the  question  of  the  other,  as  stated  in  the  13th 
verse  of  the  8th  chapter  of  Daniel.  "  How  long 
shall  be  the  vision  concerning  the  dail}^  sacrifice  ?" 
etc.  According  to  the  ordinary  computation,  as- 
suming the  supposed  date  of  the  prophetic  vision 
to  be  correct,  2300  days  (or  as  is  generally  under- 
stood, years)  would  have  ended  in  that  year,  1747. 

The  anticipated  event  did  not  occur,  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  failure  of  this  anticipation,  and  of  oth- 


INTRODUCTORY.  I9 

ers,  seemingly,  not  so  well  founded,  but  little  confi- 
dence has  since  been  placed  in  any  interpretations 
of  the  times  of  this  prophecy ;  and  this  want  of 
faith  has  been  constantly  growing,  until  one  would 
imagine  that  nearly  the  Avhole  Christian  world  had 
become  skeptical  as  to  the  explicit  revelations  of 
the  prophet.  I  think  I  shall  have  shown,  in  the 
course  of  this  argument,  a  very  satisfactory  reason 
for  the  disappointments  of  1747;  while  those  antici- 
pations were  well  founded,  after  making  due  allow- 
ance for  certain  chronological  errors. 

The  design  of  this  argument  is  to  ascertain,  so 
far  as  may  be  done,  the  time  when. 

First,  The  antichristian  despotism  of  the  Roman 
Hierarchy  shall  come  to  its  end. 

Second,  The  Mahometan  delusion  shall  die  away, 
and  disappear,  so  far  at  least  as  the  Holy  Land  is 
concerned. 

Third,  The  restoration  of  the  Jews  to  Palestine 
shall  be  accomplished. 

Fourth,  Shall  be  the  coming  of  our  Lord,  and 

Fifth,  The  Millennium  shall  begin  ;  several  of 
which  events  have  been  too  often  confounded  to- 
gether, and  with  the  anticipated  end  of  the  world. 

In  the  course  of  this  discussion,  some  other  mat- 
ters of  great  moment  will  necessarily  be  brought 
in ;  but  as  their  development  necessarily  depends 


20  THE   TIMES  OF  DANIEL. 

upon  one  or  another  of  the  above  events,  I  have  not 
thought  desirable  to  specify  them. 

The  doctrine  of  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  has 
been  believed  in  all  ages  of  the  church  ;  but  prob- 
ably, in  no  age,  has  so  little  been  said  and  thought 
and  prayed  about  it,  as  the  present,  when  the  pre- 
dicted event  is  just  upon  us. 

All  the  prophets  are  full  of  such  declarations  as 
this  from  the  thirty-sixth  chapter  of  Ezekiel  and  the 
twenty-fourth  verse,  "  I  will  take  you  from  among 
the  heathen,  and  will  gather  you  out  of  all  coun- 
tries, and  will  bring  you  into  your  own  land."  So 
in  the  thirty-seventh  chapter,  and  the  twenty-first 
and  second  verses,  ''  I  will  take  the  children  of  Is- 
rael, from  among  the  heathen,  and  bring  them  into 
their  own  land  ;  I  will  make  them  one  nation  in 
the  land,  upon  the  mountains  of  Israel ;  and  one 
king  shall  be  king  to  them  all ;  and  they  no  more 
shall  be  two  nations."  Passages  of  similar  import 
are  scattered  through  the  books  of  the  prophets, 
and  in  such  positive  and  varied  terms,  as  to  leave 
no  excuse  or  palliation  for  unbelief. 

The  coming  of  our  Lord  is  affirmed  or  assumed 
in  every  possible  form  of  expression,  so  varied,  so 
full,  so  intelligible,  by  so  many  persons,  beginning 
with  our  Lord  himself,  and  repeated  by  him  at 
least  seven  times ;  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  in  the 


INTROD  UCTOR  T.  2 1 

Epistle  to  the  Corinthians ;  in  every  chapter  of 
both  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians  ;  in  Peter ;  in  the 
Apocalypse,  as  to  preclude  all  possibility  of  doubt ; 
and  yet  we  may  doubt  whether  half  the  educated 
Christians  fully  believe  in  His  second  appearing. 

A  period  of  universal  righteousness  and  peace  at 
some  future  time,  is,  with  equal  explicitness,  fore- 
told by  Isaiah  and  other  sacred  writers,  when  "  the 
sucking  child  shall  play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and 
the  weaned  child  shall  put  his  hand  on  the  cocka- 
trice's den." 

There  seems  to  be  a  general  unwillingness  on  the 
part  of  Christian  teachers,  to  give  much  attention 
to  these  interesting  subjects.  Many  have,  in  for- 
mer times,  made  their  observations  and  applied 
their  predictions,  in  many  cases,  to  the  occurrences 
of  their  own  times  ;  and  their  failures  have  caused 
others,  as  may  be  presumed,  at  this  day,  to  be  over- 
cautious. We  are  always  disposed  to  give  the  im- 
portant events  of  our  own  times  an  undue  promi- 
nence in  the  providence  of  God,  which  has  been  one 
of  the  causes  of  former  failures ;  and  some  too,  deem 
it  necessary, to  look  out  for  much  more  mysterious 
meanings  than  the  great  simplicity  of  God's  word 
would  seem  to  justify.  Others,  on  the  contrary, 
have  been  disposed  to  dwarf  down  to  the  compass 
of  half  a   dozen   years,   those   grand  predictions, 


22  TEE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

which  the  prophet  extended,  in  vision,  to  the  final 
consummation. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  the  church,  it  was  not  only 
not  desirable,  but  hardly  possible  for  believers  to 
comprehend  the  full  import  of  the  prophecies  ;  but 
every  day's  developments  now  give  us  new  and  more 
intelligible  clues  to  their  full  understanding ;  and  I 
cannot  doubt  that  it  is  our  duty  and  our  privilege 
to  use  our  opportunities  for  elucidating  the  truth 
of  God,  so  far  as  the  light  we  have  enables  us  to  do 
it. 

I  suppose  my  view  of  the  mode  of  the  fulfillment 
of  certain  prophecies  differs  from  those  generally 
entertained.  I  do  not,  for  instance,  imagine  that 
the  denunciations  against  the  scarlet  beast,  neces- 
sarily involve  the  individual  members  of  any 
church  ;  but  are  directed  against  the  primary  and 
prevalent  cause  of  corruption.  The  saints  were 
delivered  into  the  hand  of  antichrist.  Now  it  is 
not  the  saints  who  challenge  the  wrath  of  God,  but 
antichrist  himself.  A  very  little  change,  therefore, 
will  be  needed  to  prepare  the  members  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  communion  for  acceptance  as  a  true 
church,  although  the  severest  denunciations  are 
proclaimed  against  the  Spiritual  Babylon. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  ANNOUNCEMENT   OF   MESSIAH. 

IN  what  shall  be  said  upon  the  subject  now  in 
hand,  we  propose  to  confine  our  observations 
entirely  to  the  times  of  Daniel,  and  such  other  parts 
of  Scripture  as  may  tend  to  elucidate  those  times : 
and  this,  as  a  logical,  not  a  theological  argument. 

And  to  the  perfect  understanding  of  this  pro- 
phecy, we  must  begin  with  the  fact,  which  appears 
very  clear,  although  denied  by  some  learned  and 
eminent  men,  that  in  all  cases,  namely,  of  prophecy, 
in  this  book,  Daniel  puts  a  day  for  a  year ;  although 
in  speaking  of  things  past,  he  may  use  the  word 
"day"  in  its  ordinary  acceptation. 

For  this  use  of  the  word  we  are  not  without  au- 
thority, outside  of  the  prophecy  itself.  In  Num- 
bers, fourteenth  chapter,  and  thirty-fourth  verse, 
it  is  written,  "After  the  number  of  the  days,  in 
which  ye  searched  the  land,  even  forty  days,  eack 

(^3) 


24  TEE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

day  for  a  year,  shall  yc  bear  your  iniquities,  even 
forty  years."  So  in  the  prophecy  of  Ezekiel,  in  the 
sixth  verse  of  the  fourth  chapter,  "  Thou  shalt  bear 
the  iniquity  of  the  house  of  Israel,  forty  days;  I 
have  appointed  thee  each  day  for  a  year.'' 

The  ninth  chapter  of  Daniel  contains  a  prophecy 
of  the  coming  of  our  Savior.  This  chapter  com- 
mences with  a  declaration,  that  Daniel  had  learned 
by  study,  that  Jerusalem  was  to  be  desolated  seventy 
years,  as  foretold  by  Jeremiah,  in  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  verses  of  the  twenty-fifth  chapter.  He  had 
learned  that,  at  the  time  of  this  prophecy,  the  sev- 
enty years  of  Babylonian  captivity,  were  nearly 
accomplished,  and  he  betook  himself  to  prayer  and 
supplication.  Daniel  was  taken  with  the  first  cap- 
tives from  Jerusalem  ;  he  had  lived  much  of  his 
time  at  Babylon,  and  had  been  honored  by  the 
kings,  during  all  his  stay  there,  nearly  seventy 
years.  At  the  close  of  his  prayer,  he  receives  an 
answer  from  Gabriel,  but  upon  another  subject 
matter  altogether.  The  angel,  or  as  he  calls  him, 
the  man  Gabriel,  informs  him,  that  seventy  weeks 
are  determined,  to  punish  the  transgression,  to 
make  an  end  of  sins,  to  make  reconciliation  for  in- 
iquity, to  bring  in  everlasting  righteousness,  to 
seal  up  the  vision  and  prophecy,  and  to  anoint  the 
most  holy.     In  the  next  verse,  he  divides  the  pe- 


ANNOUNCEMENT   OF  MESSIAH.  25 

riod  of  seventy  Aveeks,  from  the  going-  forth  of  the 
commandment,  to  rebuild  Jerusalem,  to  Messiah 
the  Prince,  into  two  parts  ;  the  first  seven  weeks, 
and  the  second  sixty-two  ;  in  all  sixty-nine  ;  and 
subsequently  fills  out  the  complement,  by  declar- 
ing that  he  shall  confirm  the  covenant  with  many, 
for  one  week,  in  all  seventy  weeks.  Whatever  may 
be  the  conclusion  as  to  the  true  meaning  and  force 
of  the  word  *'  day,"  it  is  quite  incredible  that  all 
the  momentous  things  foretold  in  the  foregoing 
category,  could  have  been  performed  in  the  nar- 
row space  of  one  year  and  a  half. 

The  questions  arising  upon  these  few  verses  are 
numerous,  and  exceedingly  important ;  and  ma}^ 
for  the  most  part,  be  definitely  and  satisfactori- 
ly answered.  But  for  our  present  purpose,  we 
have  to  enquire  only,  as  to  the  matter  of  time. 
How  much  time  was  indicated  by  "  seventy 
weeks  ?" 

Some  have  assumed  that  it  comprehends  merely 
four  hundred  and  ninety  days.  Except  the  Jews, 
most  men  repudiate  this  limited  construction,  and 
affirm  that  "  weeks  "  should  be  interpreted,  weeks 
of  years,  that  is  to  say,  a  day  for  a  year,  or  seventy 
weeks  of  years  ;  four  hundred  and  ninety  years. 
We  need  not  go  into  the  argument,  inasmuch  as 
all,  or  nearly  all,  Christians  fully  believe  in  this  ex- 
2 


26  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

tended  meaning  of  the  phi'ase.  Indeed,  one  of  the 
strongest  arguments  for  the  divine  mission  of  our 
Lord,  drawn  from  the  Old  Testament  prophecies, 
is  based  upon  this  very  interpretation. 

The  "  seven  weeks  "  are  the  forty -nine  )^ears  con- 
sumed in  the  rebuilding  of  Jerusalem.  The  ''sixty- 
nine  weeks,"  or  four  hundred  and  eighty -three 
years,  to  the  commencement  of  the  public  ministry 
of  our  Lord,  and  the  "  one  week,"  the  sevejn^years 
of  that  ministry.  Assuming  such  to  have  been  the 
true  meaning  of  this  part  of  Daniel's  prophecy,  the 
inference,  if  he  was  an  honest  man,  is  conclusive, 
that  he  uses,  namely,  the  same  *'  days  "  for  "  years  " 
to  convey  the  same  or  similar  ideas,  throughout 
his  whole  prophec)^  And  hence  we  deduce  the 
very  great  importance  of  this  part  of  his  writings, 
at  this  late  day,  independent  of  its  direct  reference 
to  and  prevision  of  the  coming  of  our  Lord. 

As  the  design  of  this  argument  is  to  ascertain,  if 
possible,  the  duration  of  the  several  periods  indi- 
cated by  Daniel,  by  the  phrase  "  a  time,  times  and 
half  a  time,"  "  1260,"  "  1290,"  "  1335  "  days,  and  also 
"  2300 "  days,  and  similar  expressions,  and  their 
commencement  and  probable  termination,  it  is  not 
proposed  to  examine  those  parts  of  the  prophecy, 
which  are  presumed  to  have  been  accomplished, 
nor  to  recapitulate  arguments  used  heretofore  by 


ANNOUNCEMENT   OF  MESSIAH. 


27 


commentators  for  or  against  our  own  views  ;  but 
leaving  others  to  disagree,  we  shall  fall  back  upon 
their  authority  in  such  things  as  seem  to  need  no 
further  elucidation. 

In  the  ninth  chapter  Daniel  uses  the  term  "weeks  " 
— "  seventy  weeks."  In  the  seventh  "  times " — 
"time,  times  and  the  dividing  of  time."  And  in 
the  twelfth  "  days" — "  one  thousand  two  hundred 
and  ninety  days."  Some  have  inferred  from  this, 
that  in  the  one  case,  he  uses  a  day  for  a  year,  and 
in  the  other  does  not. 

In  order  to  make  out  the  term  of  years  in  the 
ninth  chapter,  it  is  necessary  first  to  resolve  the 
weeks  into  days.  "Seventy  weeks"  —  that  is  to 
say,  seventy  times  seven — 490  days.  And  then  to 
resolve  them  again  into  years :  that  is,  a  year  for  a 
day.  In  the  twelfth  chapter,  the  prophet  has  al- 
ready resolved  the  time  into  days  ;  but  these  writ- 
ers argue  that,  as  he  does  not  require  us  to  go 
through  both  processes  required  in  the  ninth  chap- 
ter— "  days  "  here  do  not  mean  the  same  as  in  the 
other  case. 

We  have  no  controversy  on  this  matter,  each 
must  judge  for  himself;  but  it  seems  to  be  a  dis- 
tinction without  a  difference.  If  weeks  resolved 
into  days,  means  so  many  years  as  there  are  days, 
in  the  ninth  chapter,  the  writer  cannot  discover 


28  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

any  reason  for  changing  the  meaning  of  "  days  "  in 
the  twelfth,  and  Daniel  can  be  relieved  from  the 
imputation  of  deception  in  no  other  way. 


V 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   SUBJECTION   OF  THE   SAINTS   TO  ANTICHRIST. 

IN  the  seventh  chapter,  Daniel  brings  down  his 
history,  through  the  Roman  empire,  till  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Romish  Heirarchy.  The  twenty- 
fourth  verse  is  as  follows  :  "  The  ten  horns  out  of 
this  kingdom  are  ten  kings  that  shall  arise  ;  and 
another  shall  arise  after  them,  and  he  shall  be 
diverse  from  the  first,  and  he  shall  subdue  three 
kings."  For  the  proof  that  the  "  little  horn,"  the 
same  as  this  king,  "  diverse  from  the  first,"  repre- 
sents the  Romish  Heirarchy,  or  we  should  rather  "^ 
say,  the  usurpations  of  the  See  of  Rome,  we  refer 
to  those  writers  who  have  treated  of  this  matter  at 
large,  for  more  than  a  hundred  years  past.  The 
twenty -fifth  verse  says,  "He  shall  speak  great 
words  against  the  Most  High,  and  shall  wear  out 
the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  and  think  to  change 
times  and  laws  ;  and  they  (the  saints)  shall  be  given 

(^9) 


30 


THE   TIMES  OF  DANIEL. 


into  his  hand  until  a  time,  times  and  the  dividing' 
of  time."  The  identit)'^  of  the  Roman  Pontiff,  here 
delineated,  cannot  be  mistaken.  But  passing  over 
the  evidence  of  this,  of  which  the  older  books  are 
full,  our  design  is  to  show  more  clearly  and  sat- 
isfactorily the  period  designated  by  the  phrase 
"time,  times  and  the  dividing  of  time;"  when  it 
commenced  and  when  it  will  end. 

INIost  of  those  commentators  who  adopt  the  opin- 
ion that  the  word  "day"  is  used  for  a  year,  by 
Daniel,  fix  the  commencement  of  that  epoch,  and 
it  seems  with  unquestionable  truth,  when  the  Em- 
peror Phocas  constituted  Boniface,  Universal  Bish- 
op and  supreme  head  of  the  Church.  This  was  the 
year  607.  Previous  to  that  time,  the  Patriarchs  of 
Constantinople  had  been  seeking  from  the  Roman 
emperors  a  confirmation  of  the  same  dignity  to 
them.  At  that  time  Gregory,  sometimes  called 
Gregory  the  Great,  was  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  pre- 
ceding him  was  Pelagius.  The  opinions  of  these 
two  Roman  prelates,  immediately  preceding  the 
creation  of  a  universal  bishop,  are  very  significant 
and  not  a  little  curious.  We  will  first  quote  a  para- 
graph from  Archbishop  Laud  :  "  About  this  time 
broke  out  the  ambition  of  Jo/ui,  Patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, affecting  to  be  universal  bishop.  He 
was  countenanced   in  this  by  Mauritius   the    em- 


SUBJECTION  OF  SAINTS   TO  ANTICHRIST.     31 

peror ;  but  sorely  opposed  by  Pelagius  and  St. 
Gregory,  insomuch  that  St.  Gregory  plainly  says 
this  pride  of  his  shows  that  the  times  of  anticJirist 
were  near.  So  as  yet  (and  this  was  near  upon  the 
point  of  six  hundred  years  after  Christ),  there  was 
no  universal  bishop  ;  no  one  monarch  over  the 
militant  church.  But  Mauritius  being  deposed 
and  murdered  by  Phocas,  Phocas  conferred  upon 
Boniface  the  Third  that  very  honor,  that  two  of 
his  predecessors  had  declaimed  against,  as  mon- 
strous and  blasphe7iious,  if  not  antichristian.  Where, 
by  the  way,  either  these  two  popes,  Pelagius  and 
St.  Gregory,  erred  in  this  weighty  business,  about 
an  universal  bishop,  over  the  whole  church  ;  or,  if 
they  did  not  err,  Boniface  and  the  rest  which,  after 
him,  took  it  upon  them,  were  in-  their  very  prede- 
cessors' judgment,  antichristian." 

We  will  now  take  a  quotation  from  the  writings 
of  each  of  them,  Pelagius  and  Gregory. 

Pelagius  says :  ''  Let  John  take  notice  of  this 
himself,  that  unless  he  quickly  correct  his  error, 
he  shall  be  excommunicated  by  us.  Do  not  you 
also  attend  to  the  name  of  universality,  which  he 
unlawfully  usurps  to  himself.  Let  none  of  the  pa- 
triarchs use  so  profane  an  appellation.  You  see, 
dear  brethren,  what  it  is  that  is  coming  upon  us 
presently  ;  while  such  perverse  beginnings  break 


32 


THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


out,  even  among  the  sacerdotal  order.  For  this  is 
near  to  him,  concerning  whom  it  is  thus  written, 
'  He  is  king  over  all  the  children  of  pride.'  " 

St.  Gregory  says :  "  My  companion  of  the  sacer- 
dotal order,  John,  endeavors  to  have  the  title  of 
tiniversal  bishop.  Let  such  a  name  of  blasphemy  be 
banished  from  the  hearts  of  Christians.  Now  I  say, 
with  assurance,  that  whosoever  calls  himself  the 
U7iiversal priest,  or  desires  to  be  so  called,  he  is  the 
forerunner  of  antichrist,  in  his  insolence.  But  be- 
cause, as  we  now  see,  the  end  of  the  world  is  ap- 
proaching, the  enemy  of  mankind  has  appeared  in 
his  forerunner;  that  he  may  have  those  very  priests 
his  forerunners  in  this  proud  title,  who  ought  to 
oppose  him,  by  living  well  and  humbly." 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that 
this  1 260  years  commenced  with  the  year  607,  with- 
out doing  violence  to  the  known  facts  of  history. 
Nevertheless,  there  have  been  eminent  and  acute- 
minded  men,  who  refer  the  whole  prophecy  to  the 
short  period  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes ;  and,  conse- 
quently, give  the  words  of  the  prophet  their  nat- 
ural and  common  signification,  using  the  word 
"day"  here  for  a  natural  day.  This  is  an  easy 
mode  of  disposing  of  a  great  prophecy.  But  there 
can  be  no  satisfactory  solution  of  it  upon  such  a 
theory.     Others  may  satisfy  themselves  that  God 


SUBJECTION  OF  SAINTS   TO  ANTICHRIST. 


33 


would  communicate  so  grand  and  glorious  a  reve- 
lation, under  such  marvellous  surroundings,  affect- 
ing the  interests  of  comparatively  a  few  people, 
during  three  or  half  a  dozen  years.  But  we  must 
insist  that  a  priori,  independent  of  all  other  consid- 
erations, we  should  hold  the  wonderful  display  of 
God's  glory  in  his  manifestation  to  Daniel  incon- 
sistent with  such  a  theory,  But  besides  this, 
throughout  the  whole  prophecy,  we  find  inter- 
woven the  most  incontestable  evidence,  that  it  was 
intended  to  foreshadow  coming  events,  down  to 
the  time  when  the  judgment  shall  sit ;  and  with  no 
desire  to  controvert  any  preconceived  notions,  we 
may  be  permitted  to  notice  what  appears  to  be  a 
very  great  inconsistency  in  those  who  hold  this  di- 
minutive doctrine.  They  all  admit  that  the  seventy 
weeks  mentioned  in  the  ninth  chapter  cover  a  pe- 
riod of  490  years ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  prophet 
there  uses  a  day  prophetically  for  a  year.  Now  it 
seems  like  charging  Daniel  with  intentional  decep- 
tion, if  he,  in  speaking  of  a  prophetical  time  in  one 
vision,  uses  "  days"  for  "  years,"  and  then  in  another 
vision,  in  the  same  series  of  prophecies,  uses  days  in 
their  common  acceptation ;  and  this  view  of  the 
case  becomes  the  more  impressive,  on  the  theory 
that  the  ninth  chapter  is  but  the  first  of  a  consecu- 
tive series  of  visions,  all  the  others  resulting  there- 
2* 


34:  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

from,  and  all  forming  but  one  connected  chain  of 
prophecy,  relating-  to  the  Christian  dispensation, 
from  the  birth  of  Christ  down  to  the  time  of  his 
second  appearance. 

If,  then,  the  commencement  of  this  division  of 
time  shall  prove  to  have  been  the  date  supposed, 
namely,  when  Boniface  was  decreed  by  Phocas  to 
be  the  supreme  head  of  the  church  ;  as  that  occur- 
red in  the  year  607  (erroneously  assumed  by  many 
authors  to  have  been  in  606)  of  the  Christian  era ; 
and  if  our  views  be  correct  as  to  the  length  of  time 
expressed  by  the  phrase,  "  time,  times  and  half  a 
time ;"  then  the  saints  shall  be  delivered  out  of  the 
hand  of  the  antichristian  power  in  the  year,  or 
about  the  year  of  our  Lord  1867.  We  may  here 
observe,  that  we  should  not  consider  a  variance  or 
discrepancy  of  one  or  two  years,  in  so  long  a  lapse 
of  time,  as  of  any  considerable  importance.  But 
from  the  time  Boniface  assumed  his  antichristian 
office  and  functions,  the  time  of  their  continuance 
will  be  1260  years.  The  closing  verses  of  this  sev- 
enth chapter,  seem  to  announce  the  universal  reign 
of  righteousness  on  the  earth — the  commencement 
of  the  millennium.  We  are  not  to  presume,  however, 
for  there  is  nothing  to  sustain  the  presumption, 
that  this  happy  period  will  commence  immediately 
after  the  fall  of  antichrist ;  for  there  are  yet  many 


SUBJECTION  OF  SAINTS  TO  ANTICHRIST.     35 

important  events,  foretold,  and  to  be  accomplished 
before  the  fullness  of  that  glorious  dispensation 
shall  be  ushered  in.  ''  The  kingdom  and  the  great- 
ness of  the  kingdom,  under  the  whole  heaven,  shall 
be  given  to  the  people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High,  and  all  dominions  shall  obey  and  serve  him." 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   ANSWER    OF    PALMONI  —  TWENTY-FOUR    HUN- 
DRED  YEARS. 

IT  will  be  observed  that  while  the  fact,  that  the 
saints  shall  be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  anti- 
christ is  foretold  in  clear  and  perfectly  intelligible 
terms,  and  its  duration,  the  era  of  its  commence- 
ment is  not  stated,  nor  does  chapter  seventh  give 
any  fact  from  which  it  may  be  discovered  by  any 
possible  course  of  argument.  But  in  the  eighth 
chapter  the  prophet  gives  a  clue  by  which  nearly 
all  the  times  mentioned  by  him  may  be  ascertained. 
After  a  most  wonderful  development  of  future 
events,  comprehending  the  twin  delusions  of  Rome 
and  Mahomet,  all  comprised  in  a  few  words,  the 
prophet  heard  one  saint  speaking,  and  another  saint 
said  unto  that  certain  saint  which  had  spoken, 
"  How  long  shall  be  the  vision  concerning  the  daily 
sacrifice,  and  the  transgression  of  desolation,  to  give 
both  the  sanctuary  and  the  host  to  be  trodden  un- 
(36) 


TEE   TWENTY-FOUE  HUKBRED    YExiliS. 


37 


der  foot?"  The  answer  is  given  in  the  briefest  and 
apparently  most  intelligible  terms :  "  Unto  two 
thousand  and  three  hundred  daj^s ;  then  shall  the 
sanctuary  be  cleansed."  The  term  of  1260  years, 
as  expressed  in  the  preceding  vision,  in  the  seventh 
chapter,  could  give  no  insight  into  the  date  of  its 
termination,  inasmuch  as  the  time  when  the  saints 
of  the  Most  High  should  be  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  the  antichristian  power  was  not  known- 
It  was  only  foretold  that  the}  should  remain  sub- 
ject to  that  grinding  and  withering  despotism  so 
long.  This  answer  of  "  Pa/;uo;ii,''  the  zvonderful 
number er,  is  intended  to  give  a  clue  to  discover  the 
termination  of  the  other  period,  as  the  two  incon- 
testably  end  at  the  same  time.  Its  conclusion  was 
anxiously  expected  by  Bible  students,  and  with 
great  plausibility,  about  the  year  1747,  as  this  would 
accomplish  2300  years  from  the  date  of  Daniel's 
prophecy.  But  as  no  such  events  happened  at  or 
near  that  time,  as  might  have  reasonably  been  an- 
ticipated, they  were  greatly  disappointed  ;  as  those 
have  been  who  had  fixed  upon  sundry  later  peri- 
ods. So  that  at  this  time  the  best  and  most  reliable 
commentators  have  generally  settled  down  upon 
the  conviction  that,  as  Daniel  has  not  given  us  any 
epoch  from  which  the  2300  years  is  to  be  calcu- 
lated, we  must  remain  in  ignorance,  until  the  great 


38  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

things  foretold  by  him  shall  have  been  accomplish- 
ed. Now  this  conclusion  seems  to  be  in  direct  op- 
position to  the  Divine  mind.  A  form  of  words  de- 
livered to  us  by  the  Omniscient,  which  we  cannot 
understand,  would  appear  to  be  unworthy  of  the 
Great  Teacher.  Besides,  we  are  assured  that  all 
Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is 
profitable  for  our  instruction.  Wherein,  then, 
would  be  the  instruction  conveyed  to  us  by  such  a 
form  of  words,  which  we  could  not  understand  ? 
And  more  than  this,  and  at  the  close  of  this  prophecy 
of  Daniel,  we  are  assured  that  '*  none  of  the  wicked 
shall  understand ;  but  the  wise  shall  understand." 
And  our  Saviour,  quoting  from  this  very  prophecy, 
exclaims,  "  Whoso  readeth,  let  him  understand." 
To  me  there  seems  no  more  logical  conclusion  than 
that  God  intended  that  we  should  understand  this 
prophecy,  from  time  to  time,  as  it  is  fulfilled,  and 
reasonably  before,  and  has  given  us  the  means  and 
the  power  so  to  understand  it. 

In  all  the  other  prophecies  of  Daniel  relating  to 
time,  except  in  one  parallel  case,  he  has  given  the 
epoch ,  or  a  reference  to  some  other  epoch  from  which 
to  reckon  the  event.  The  seventy  weeks  of  years 
were  to  commence  at  the  going  forth  of  the  com 
mandment  to  rebuild  Jerusalem.  The  1260  years 
were  to  commence  from  the  deliverv  of  the  saints 


THE   TWENTY-FOUR  HUNDRED    TEARS.        39 

into  the  power  of  antichrist ;  but  nowhere  does  he 
specify  any  point  of  time,  from  which  to  date  the 
beginning  of  the  2300  years.  It  seems,  therefore,  a 
necessary  inference,  that  this  term  must  begin  at 
the  date  of  the  prophecy.  This  seems  also  to  be 
the  plain  meaning  of  the  language  used,  "  How 
long  shall  be  the  vision?"  "Unto"  (or  better 
"  until")  "  two  thousand  and  three  hundred"  (days) 
"years."  From  what  time?  Obviously  from  the 
date  of  the  present  speaking.  Judging  of  the  ques- 
tion, intrinsically,  without  reference  to  outside  oc- 
currences, no  one  could  give  it  any  other  meaning. 
This  vision  appeared  to  Daniel,  according  to 
Archbishop  Usher,  about  the  year  553  before  Christ. 
Proceeding  from  that  date,  and  2300  years  would 
have  ended  in  the  year  1747.  But  no  event  occur- 
red in  the  ecclesiastical  world,  at  or  near  that  time 
which  especially  arrested  the  attention  of  men  ;  and 
as  it  cannot  be  presumed  that  God  would  suggest 
to  Daniel  so  grand  a  vision,  without  any  adequate 
result,  we  are  constrained  to  believe  that  there  is 
some  error  in  chronology  which  needs  revision  and 
correction.  On  inquiry,  we  learn  that  in  this  place 
the  version  of  the  Septuagint  differs  from  the  He- 
brew text.  There,  the  time  to  the  end,  in  the  an- 
swer given,  is  2400  years ;  and  in  many  points  of 
difference,  this  version  is   considered  by  learned 


40  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

men  quite  as  reliable  as  the  other.  If,  then,  we  as- 
sume the  correctness  of  the  Septuagint  reading,  the 
period  of  2400  years  would  have  expired  in  the 
year  1847.  -'^s  the  last  six  chapters  of  this  proph- 
ecy of  Daniel  relate  exclusively  to  ecclesiastical 
and  sacred  matters,  never  mentioning  mere  secular 
concerns,  except  when  closely  connected  with,  or 
necessary  to  the  explanation  of  the  other,  we  must 
look  to  the  religious  world  for  an  elucidation 
of  this  prophec}'.  The  question  presented  was 
double,  of  which  more  will  be  said  hereafter.  The 
answer  reached  but  one  :  "  Then  shall  the  sanctuary 
be  cleansed."  This  answer  refers  to  the  Roman 
Hierarchy.  We  are  thus  led  to  inquire  whether 
any  event  occurred  about  the  year  1847,  affecting 
the  power  of  the  Pope  concurrent  with  the  answer 
given  in  this  portion  of  the  prophec3^ 

About  the  close  of  1846,  a  revolution  took  place 
at  Rome.  Resistance  was  made,  and  successfully 
made  to  the  domination  of  the  Roman  Pontiff. 
His  own  people  rose,  almost  unanimously,  against 
him,  and  expelled  him  from  the  eternal  city ;  so 
that,  in  1848,  he  sought  refuge  and  safety  in  the 
dominions  of  a  neighboring  power,  making  his  re- 
sidence at  Gacta,  v/ithin  the  territories  of  the  King 
of  Naples.  Had  this  revolution  succeeded,  as  its 
authors  designed  it  should,  it  would  seem  to  have 


TEE   TWENTY-FOUR  HUNDRED    TEARS.       41 

been  a  fulfillment  of  Daniel's  prophecy  to  the  let- 
ter. But  the  Pope  was  very  soon  taken  under  the 
patronage  of  France,  and  by  the  power  of  France 
returned  to  Rome,  where  he  has  been  kept  in 
power  until  the  present  time  ;  thus  effectually  frus- 
trating the  designs  of  the  people  of  Rome,  by 
whose  efforts  he  had  been  expelled  from  that  city. 
This  is  certainly  a  very  extraordinary  condition  of 
things ;  and,  in  reference  to  a  subsequent  vision  of 
the  prophet,  we  cannot  give  it  too  much  impor- 
tance. Just  2400  years  after  the  prophecy  ;  by  the 
Romans  themselves  ;  by  his  own  ecclesiastical  sub- 
jects ;  by  a  people  who,  for  more  than  1200  years, 
had  sustained  and  supported  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  power  of  the  Pope,  he  was  expelled  and 
made  an  outcast  from  the  imperial  city.  So  far  as 
they  could  do  it,  they  had  deposed  the  Pope,  and 
utterly  annihilated  his  antichristian  existence. 

Why,  then,  we  inquire,  was  not  his  power  ab- 
solutely broken,  and  the  persecution  of  the  saints 
forever  ended?  Because,  and  only  because,  the 
French  army  "  withstood  "  the  purpose  and  efforts 
of  his  own  subjects.  That  army  "  withstood  "  the 
people  of  Rome,  by  restoring  their  banished  Pope, 
and  by  supporting  him  there,  in  the  seat  of  his 
power,  against  their  will,  from  then  to  the  present 
time,  1867.     It  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  such  a 


42  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

prophecy  as  this  should,  at  the  moment  of  its  fulfill- 
ment, be  thwarted  and  frustrated  thus  by  a  foreign 
government,  and  nothing  foreshado\vi-ng  such  a  re- 
sult appear  in  the  prophecy. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHRONOLOGICAL   CORRECTIONS. 

THE  tenth  chapter  commences  as  follows :  "  In 
the  third  year  of  Cyrus  king  of  Persia." 
This  has  been  assumed  by  almost  all  biblical  stu- 
dents, on  the  authority  of  Archbishop  Usher,  to 
have  been  in  the  year  534  before  Christ ;  which  has 
also  been  assumed,  on  like  authority,  to  have  been 
the  time  of  the  vision,  that  is,  the  third  year  of 
Cyrus,  king  of  the  consolidated  kingdom  of  Persia. 
It  becomes  necessary  here  to  break  off  the  regular 
course  of  our  argument,  to  correct  two  errors  in 
this  chronology. 

It  may  be  affirmed,  with  perfect  contidence,  that 
Daniel  was  not  living  at  the  time  specified,  534 
B.  c.  The  last  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  this 
prophecy  is  in  these  words :  "  And  Daniel  con- 
tinued even  unto  the  first  year  of  king  Cyrus." 
The  obvious  meaning  attached  to  this  phrase  is, 

(43) 


44 


THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


that  he  died  in  that  year.  As  it  is  presumed  that 
Daniel  himself  did  not  write  it,  but  his  compiler, 
\  undoubtedly  after  his  death,  it  would  be  absurd 
for  him  to  say  that  he  lived  unto  the  first  year  if 
he  knew  that  he  lived  to  and  after  the  third.  It 
would  be  still  more  absurd  to  make  this  statement 
when,  in  the  prophecy  itself,  a  little  further  on,  ap- 
peared the  fact  that  he  was  alive  two  years  later. 
This  absurdity  appears  even  more  glaring  when 
we  examine  the  Septuagint  reading.  The  word 
translated  "  continued  "  is  in  Greek  egeneto,  which 
might  be  better  rendered  "  was  alive,"  meaning 
very  nearly,  though  not  quite  the  same.  But  the 
word  eos,  translated  "  unto,"  means  more  properly 
"  until,"  which  is  somewhat  inconsistent  with  the 
fact  that  he  lived  years  thereafter. 

The  reader  may  here,  very  properly,  inquire, 
What,  then,  is  the  meaning  of  the  introductory 
paragraph  before  quoted  ?  We  will  endeavor  to 
make  it  plain  to  the  perception  of  every  one. 

The  introduction  to  the  eighth  chapter  is  as  fol- 
lows: "  In  the  third  year  of  the  reign  of  king  Bel- 
shazzar."  This  seems  to  have  been  universally 
assumed,  and  appears  always  to  be  noted  in  Bible 
references  as  the  year  553  B.C.  Some  authorities 
(Mr.  Hales  among  them),  however,  place  the  be- 
ginning of  Belshazzar's  reign  in  the  year  558  B.  c, 


CHRONOLOGICAL   CORRECTIONS.  45 

while  Calmet  fixes  it  in  555.  In  either  case,  it  is 
impossible  that  the  third  year  of  his  reign  should 
fall  upon  any  portion  of  the  year  553.  The  larger 
portion  would  fall  within  the  year  555  or  552;  but 
making  allowance  for  the  difference  between  the 
Jewish  calendar  and  our  own,  a  considerable  part 
might  fall  within  the  year  554,  which  we  assume, 
for  our  present  purpose,  to  be  the  correct  reading. 

Let  us  now  pass  over  to  Cyrus.  According  to 
the  commonly  received  opinion,  he  began  his 
reign  in  Persia,  559  B.C.  (or  according  to  Calmet, 
554);  over  Media  551,  and  over  his  consolidated 
empire  of  Persia,  Media  and  Babylon,  in  536. 

It  is  generally  assumed  that  he  commenced  his 
reign  over  Persia  proper  in  559.  Almost  all  writers 
rely  upon  the  authority  of  Xenophon.  But  how- 
ever reliable  Xenophon  may  be  in  other  matters, 
his  account  seems,  in  tl^^s  particular,  very  uncer- 
tain. According  to  Rollin,  who  takes  Xenophon 
for  his  authority  throughout,  "  the  years  of  Cyrus' 
reign  are  computed  differently.  Some  make  it 
thirty  years,  beginning  from  his  first  setting  out 
from  Persia,  at  the  head  of  an  army,  to  succor  his 
uncle  Cyaxeres ;  others  make  it  to  be  but  seven 
years,  because  they  date  it  only  from  the  time 
when,  by  the  death  of  Cyaxeres  and  Cambyses,  he 
became  sole  monarch  of  the  whole  empire."     In- 


46  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

deed,  relying  upon  the  account  of  that  historian 
alone,  it  would  be  difficult  to  fix  upon  any  date. 

Upon  this  point  Herodotus  appears  to  be  much 
more  clear,  intelligible  and  reliable.  His  account 
is  as  follows :  "  He  (Cyrus)  next  attacked  and  took 
Sardis,  and  made  Croesus  prisoner  (b.  c.  $^6).  He 
besieged  and  took  the  City  of  Babylon,  B.C.  538, 
which  he  entered  by  diverting  the  course  of  the 
Euphrates,  and  leading  his  army  into  the  city  by 
the  dry  bed  of  the  river.  At  last  he  carried  his 
arms  against  the  Massagetae,  and  was  defeated  and 
slain  by  Tomyris,  their  queen,  B.C.  529.  who  had 
his  head  cut  off  and  put  into  a  leathern  bag  full  of 
human  blood."  "He  had  reigned  twenty -nine 
years."  If,  then,  you  add  the  29  years  of  his 
reign  to  529,  the  year  before  Christ  in  which  he 
was  killed,  it  shows  that  he  commenced  his  reign 
in  the  year  553, 

Such  being  the  case,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
third  year  of  Cyrus,  as  well  as  the  third  of  Belshaz- 
zar  (making  allowance  for  the  difference  between 
the  Jewish  calendar  and  our  own),  might  fall  partly 
on  the  five  hundred  and  fift)''-fourth  year  B.  c. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  prophecy  of  Daniel. 
**  In  the  third  year  of  Cyrus  king  of  Persia."  Was 
this  the  year  534  B.C.?  We  cannot  so  understand 
it.     In  the  eighth  chapter  he  had  recorded  a  vision 


CHRONOLOGICAL    CORRECTIONS.  47 

which  appeared  to  him  "  in  the  third  year  of  king 
Belshazzar."  In  the  tenth  chapter  he  is  about  to 
narrate  another  vision,  but  relating  to  the  same 
subject,  and  supplementary  thereto.  He  then,  in 
this  first  verse,  refers  to  the  former  vision,  viz  : 
"  In  the  third  year  of  Cyrus  king  of  Persia." 
Here,  apparently,  may  seem  to  be  a  discrepancy, 
but  one  easily  explained.  Daniel's  residence  was 
at  Babylon.  In  those  days,  the  epoch  of  almost  all 
time  was  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  the 
existing  sovereign.  If,  therefore,  Daniel  was  at 
the  court  of  Babylon,  it  would  be  correct,  and 
most  natural  that,  in  writing  an  account  of  his 
vision,  he  should  use  the  epoch  of  the  Babylonians, 
which  was  the  beginning  of  Belshazzar's  reign ; 
and,  when,  afterwards,  being  at  the  court  of  Cyrus, 
and  having  occasion  to  refer  to  the  same  event,  it 
was  equally  natural  and  proper  that  he  should  use 
the  epoch  of  the  Persians,  which  was  the  reign  of 
Cyrus.  His  vision,  therefore,  as  related  in  the 
eighth  chapter,  is  correctly  stated  to  have  occur- 
red ''  in  the  third  year  of  king  Belshazzar ;"  and 
the  same  vision  is,  with  like  propriety,  stated  in 
the  tenth  chapter,  to  have  occurred  "  in  the  third 
year  of  Cyrus  king  of  Persia,"  when  referred  to  at 
a  subsequent  period,  he  then  being  at  the  court  of 
Cyrus.     This  view  of  the  case  seems  to  be  fully 


48  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

confirmed  by  the  fact,  that,  a  little  further  on,  in 
the  first  verse  of  the  eleventh  chapter,  and  in  the 
same  vision,  Daniel  refers  to  a  former  vision,  by 
the  use  of  similar  phraseology,  "Also  I,  in  the  first 
year  of  Darius  the  Mede,"  in  which  there  seems  to 
be  no  room  for  doubt  that  he  refers  to  the  vision 
related  in  the  ninth  chapter,  and  not  to  that  which 
he  was  about  to  record.  The  greater  importance 
of  these  seemingly  frivolous  changes  in  the  receiv- 
ed chronology,  will  appear  in  subsequent  chapters. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ADDITION   OF  21    TO   THE   24OO   YEARS. 

IN  the  tenth  chapter  of  Daniel  we  have  the 
record  of  a  vision,  the  significance  of  which 
seems  to  have  been  strangely  overlooked  by  com- 
mentators, and  sometimes  as  strangely  misunder- 
stood ;  for  while,  in  all  the  preceding  visions,  they 
have  interpreted  prophetical  days  to  mean  natural 
years,  here,  in  a  continuation  of  the  same  proph- 
ecy, they  almost,  if  not  entirely,  without  exception, 
have  given  that  time  its  natural  and  not  pro- 
phetical meaning ;  and  thus  confining  the  whole 
purport  of  one  of  these  grand  visions  of  Daniel  to 
the  insignificant  space  of  three  natural  weeks,  and 
in  which  trifling  space  of  time  some  unknown 
barbarian  is  the  chief  actor. 

As  we   before  proved,  Daniel   commences   this 
chapter  with  a  reference  to  the  former  vision,  and 
adds,  "  The  thing  was  true,  but  the  time  was  long." 
3  (+9) 


50  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

Now,  either  or  all  these  propositions,  taken  sepa- 
rately and  independently,  mean  nothing. 

First,  He  affirms  that  a  "  thing  "  was  revealed  to 
him  in  the  third  year  of  Cyrus.  This  adds  nothing 
to  what  had  appeared  before. 

Second,  He  affirms  that  "  the  thing,"  or,  better, 
"  prophecy  was  true."  As  an  abstract  proposition 
this  would  seem  quite  unnecessary ;  for  if  any  one 
doubted  his  former  record,  this  new  asseveration 
would  scarce  remove  the  doubt.     And, 

Third,  "  The  time  appointed  was  long."  It 
would  certainly  need  no  prophet  to  convince  the 
most  skeptical  that  2300  or  2400  years  was  a  long 
time,  and  such  a  gratuitous  affirmation  of  it  would 
be  deemed  quite  absurd. 

This  statement  in  the  first  verse  is  evidently  an 
introduction  to  what  he  is  about  to  relate,  and  is 
thus  presented,  that  this  vision  may  be  the  better 
understood.  He  first  states  that  he  had  a  revela- 
tion in  the  third  year  of  Cyrus,  of  which  he  had 
made  a  record.  He  then  affirms  that  this  former 
revelation  was  true,  in  all  essential  particulars  ;  but 
he  had  probably  learned  that  in  some  non-essen- 
tials, or  in  its  full  import,  it  might  be  misappre- 
hended. He  then  follows  up  this  statement  with 
the  further  and  important  part  of  the  preface, 
namely,  "  But  the  time  appointed  was  long,"  thus 


ADDITIOJS^  OF  21    TO   THE  2,400    TEARS.         51 

showing  very  clearly  that  whatever  of  his  former 
revelation  might  seem  incorrect,  or  liable  to  mis- 
conception, related  to  time.  It  would  seem  that 
the  whole  passage  would  be  rendered  perfectly 
intelligible,  if  the  last  word  could,  consistently 
with  the  idiom  of  the  Hebrew  language,  be  ren- 
dered in  the  comparative  degree,  so  as  to  read, 
"  The  revelation  was  true,  but  the  time  was  longer." 
Not,  however,  being  acquainted  with  the  Hebrew, 
and  knowing  no  authority  for  such  a  change,  we 
adopt  the  English  reading  as  it  is,  simply  implying 
that  whatever  correction  is  to  be  made,  relates  to 
time. 

"  In  those  days  I  Daniel  was  mourning  three 
full  weeks."  It  is  not  necessary,  for  any  purpose 
connected  with  our  theory,  to  affirm  that  he 
mourned  full  twenty-one  years,  because  he  is  not 
now  prophecying,  but  merely  relating  a  current 
event ;  and  yet  it  would  seem  to  imply  some  incon- 
sistency in  him  to  use  the  same  terms  wi^h  a 
different  meaning,  even  in  the  recital  of  a  fact. 
The  only  significance  belonging  to  it,  however, 
arises  out  of  the  circumstance,  that  the  time  pre- 
cisely coincides  with  that  of  the  subsequent  proph- 
ecy, as  will  appear. 

In  the  prophetical  portion  of  this  chapter  there 
is  but  one  revelation  of  the  slightest  importance 


52 


THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


communicated  ;  and  singularly  enough  that  revela- 
tion appears  to  have  been  passed  over  with  little 
reflection,  and  with  no  apparent  effort  to  give  it 
an}^  significance,  or  to  reconcile  any  supposed  dis- 
crepancy in  the  former  vision.  Now,  bearing  in 
mind  our  view  of  the  intent  of  the  prefatory  verse 
of  the  chapter,  let  us  try  to  fathom  the  purport  of 
this  hitherto  obscure  passage.  Daniel  saw  a  man 
clothed  in  linen,  who  spoke  encouragingly  to  him  : 
"  Then  said  he  unto  me.  Fear  not  Daniel ;  for  from 
the  first  day  that  thou  didst  set  thine  heart  to 
understand,  and  to  chasten  thyself  before  thy  God, 
thy  words  were  heard,  and  I  am  come  for  thy 
words.  But  the  prince  of  the  kingdom  of  Persia, 
withstood  me  one  and  tiucnty  days.''  For  some  rea- 
son, which  it  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  know,  or 
wise  to  inquire  into,  the  vision  related  in  the 
eighth  chapter  only  reached  to  the  first  great  blow 
aimed  at  the  Romish  Hierarchy,  although  in  the 
sevq^ith  chapter  he  had  very  explicitly  stated 
that  "  they  shall  take  away  his  dominion  to  con- 
sume and  to  destroy  it  unto  the  end."  This  phrase, 
"  consume  unto  the  end,"  necessarily  implies  a 
slow  process  of  waste  or  decomposition.  To  waste 
slowly  is  a  just  meaning  of  consume.  In  this  sense 
it  is  used  in  other  places  in  the  Scriptures.  Job 
says,  "  My  llcsh  is  consumed  nway.''    So  Zechariah  : 


ADDITION  OF  21    TO  THE  2,400    YEAES.         53 

"Their  flesh,  their  eyes,  their  tongue,  shall  consiiine 
away ; "  and  in  the  Psalms,  "  The  wicked  shall 
perish,  they  shall  consumed  In  these,  and  other 
instances,  it  is  obvious  that  "  consiune "  does  not 
imply  instantaneous  destruction,  but  protracted 
dissolution.  Now,  the  revelation  in  this  tenth 
chapter  was  designed  to  inform  Daniel  that  the 
first  blow  which  would  be  struck  in  2400  years, 
would  not  be  fatal,  but  only  a  prelude  to  the  final, 
catastrophe,  as  it  must  "consume  and  destroy 
unto  the  end  ;"  that  through  the  interposition  of  a 
foreign  power,  after  this  first  blow,  the  power  of 
antichrist  would  be  partially  restored ;  and  thus  to 
advise  him  that  the  facts  of  coming  history,  as  dis- 
closed to  him  in  the  prophecy,  would  be  all  true  in 
their  fulfillment ;  yet  that  the  time  required  for  the 
entire  destruction  of  the  power  of  antichrist  would 
be  longer,  by  twenty-one  j'-ears,  than  that  before 
mentioned ;  during  which  it  would  consume  and 
be  destroyed.  Now,  compare  this  prophecy  as 
presented,  with  the  actual  state  of  things  in  Rome, 
as  exhibited  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  this  argu- 
ment. Near  the  close  of  1846,  or  beginning  of 
1847,  exactly  2400  years  from  the  date  of  Daniel's 
prophecy  in  the  eighth  chapter,  a  rebellion  broke 
out  in  the  states  of  the  church,  in  consequence  of 
which,  the  Pope   abdicated   and  fled  beyond  the 


54  TUB   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

frontier  of  his  own  dominions.  By  the  favor  of  a 
foreign  prince  he,  a  fugitive,  found  an  asylum  at 
Gaeta;  and  from  that  time  to  this  (1867)  he  has 
had  no  existence,  as  sovereign  pontiff,  but  such  as 
he  has  derived  from  the  intervention  of  France. 
The  decree  for  the  destruction  of  antichrist  had 
gone  forth,  but  precisely  in  accordance  with  the 
prophetic  announcement,  the  utter  and  final  ex- 
•tinction  of  his  antichristian  power  was  postponed 
one-and-twenty  years,  during  which  he  and  his 
power  were  to  consume  and  be  destroyed. 

Let  us  now  recapitulate.  The  saints  were  de- 
livered into  the  hands  of  the  papal  antichrist,  in 
the  year  607,  by  the  decree  of  Phocas  They  are 
to  remain  subject  to  his  power,  "  a  time,  times,  and 
the  dividing  of  time,"  1260  years,  or  until  the  year 
1867.  The  "wonderful  numberer,"  in  reply  to  a 
complex  question,  answers  only  to  that  part  of  it 
relating  to  the  continuance  of  the  antichristian 
power ;  that  it  should  continue  until  the  expiration 
of  2400  years,  which  would  end,  beginning  as  we 
have  before  shown  it  ought  to  begin,  at  the  year 
554  before  Christ,  in  the  year  1846  of  the  Christian 
era ;  and  now  in  the  tenth  chapter,  Daniel  is  again 
informed  that  the  perfect  accomplishment  of  this 
vision  will  be  "  withstood  "  by  the  king  of  Persia, 
(that  is,  by  France,  as  we  shall  show,)  for  a  period 


ADDITION  OF  21    TO    THE  2,400    TEARS.         55 

of  twenty-one  years ;  which  being  added  to  the 
former  term  of  2400,  brings  us  down  to  the  year 
1867;  and  thus  these  two  predictions  are  made 
with  sufficient  exactness  to  synchronize,  which  all 
commentators  agree  should  be  the  case. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

THE   SYMBOL   OF   THE   RAM   WITH   HORNS. 

WE  now  approach  the  scrutiny  of  that  prob- 
lem, which  appears  to  be  the  most  inex- 
pUcable  of  the  whole  prophecy,  namely,  that  the 
power  interposing  in  behalf  of  the  Pope,  was  right- 
fully France,  and  not  Persia,  as  would  seem  prima- 
facie  from  the  text  of  Daniel  to  have  been  neces- 
sary. Upon  this  point  we  give  our  view  of  the 
case ;  and  so  leave  each  one  to  judge  whether  it 
be  worthy  of  further  consideration. 

We  are  too  much  prone,  in  construing  prophecy, 
to  take  the  literal  meaning,  rather  than  seek  the 
truth  which  is  often  veiled  under  symbolical  ex- 
pressions. As  an  instance,  let  us  quote  that  one 
which  is  relied  upon  more  confidently  as  a  literal 
fulfillment,  than  any  other,  Alexander,  namely, 
as  the  rough  goat  in  the  eighth  chapter;  and 
Media  and  Persia,  as  the  ram.  We  object  to  this 
first,  for  the  reason,  that  if  it  be  so,  Daniel's  vision 
(56) 


THE  SYMBOL   OF  THE  BAM  WITH  HOBNS.     57 

is  history  and  not  prophecy ;  the  history  being  a 
httle  antedated.  Second,  we  cannot  discover  the 
exact  parallehsm  between  the  prophecy  and  the 
supposed  fulfiUment,  in  the  case  of  Alexander. 
Third,  it  leaves  a  chasm  between  the  ram  and  the 
fifth  horn  of  the  goat  of  near  a  thousand  years; 
while  it  seems  quite  certain  that  they  should  be 
nearl}',  or  quite  cotemporaneous.  And  fourth,  it 
is  hardly  consistent  with  the  scope  of  the  proph- 
ecy, that  so  much  should  be  devoted  to  matters 
involving  only  the  secular  interests  of  nations  of 
barbarians. 

In  the  time  of  Daniel,  Persia  was,  relatively,  a 
powerful  kingdom,  and  so  continued  for  more  than 
two  hundred  years  ;  but  from  the  year  330  B.  c,  or 
thereabouts,  until  the  present  time,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  short  but  most  important  period,  of  vv^hich 
more  will  be  said  hereafter,  it  has  been  perfectly 
insignificant,  and  for  many  years  hardly  known  in 
its  influence  upon  the  Christian  world.  If,  then, 
the  view  taken  in  this  argument  of  the  2400  years 
be  correct,  and  that  it  could  not  expire,  with  the 
twent3^-one  years  added,  until  the  present  time,  it 
seems  incredible  that  Persia  should  be  literally 
intended  in  the  paragraph  under  discussion.  And 
it  should  be  also  borne  in  mind  that  Daniel  is  here 
propliesying  and  not  relating  history.  It  must  be 
3"" 


58  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

presumed,  therefore,  that  he  employs  prophetic 
language,  which  though  sometimes  used  in  its  lit- 
eral sense,  is  most  commonly  couched  in  terms  not 
so  easily  comprehended.  It  is  often,  if  not  always, 
the  design  so  to  express  the  meaning  that  it  will 
prove  true,  but  not  immediately  be  understood. 
And  again,  so  dark  and  inexplicable  have  seemed 
these  references  to  the  prince  of  the  kingdom  of 
Persia,  that  respectable  commentators  have  ad- 
vanced a  great  deal  about  tutelary  and  guardian 
angels  presiding  over  different  countries ;  as  if  they 
strove,  one  against  the  othei',  each  for  his  favorite 
state ;  which  must  be  deemed  very  inconsistent 
with  the  principles  of  Christianity,  and  indeed  more 
befitting  a  system  of  Paganism  ;  and  merely  shows 
to  what  shifts  good  men  are  sometimes  driven  to 
evade  an  acknowledged  difficulty. 

The  explication  herein  given  may  appear  quite 
as  absurd,  especially  as  in  a  most  essential  point  it 
directly  contravenes  the  theory  heretofore  gener- 
ally adopted  by  expositors. 

We  learn  from  those  competent  to  instruct,  that 
the  original  name  of  "  Persia,"  and  which  compre- 
hended all  Media,  is  derived  from  the  same  root, 
in  the  Hebrew,  as  the  word  "ram  ;"  and  that  the 
difference  between  them  is  very  minute.  In  refer- 
ence to  the  peculiar  genius  of  the  Hebrew  Ian- 


THE  SYMBOL   OF  THE  BAM  WITH  H0BN8.     59 

guage,  we  quote  from  Parkhurst's  Preface  to  the 
Hebrew  Lexicon  :  "  It  will  be  demonstratively  evi- 
dent to  any  one,  who  will  attentively  examine  the 
subject,  that  the  Hebrew  language  is  '  ideal /  or 
that  from  a  certain  and  that  no  great  number  of 
primitive  and  apparently  arbitrary  words,  called 
roots,  and  usually  expressive  of  some  idea  or  notion 
taken  from  nature,  that  is,  from  the  external  objects 
around  us,  or  from  our  own  constitution  by  our 
senses  or  feelings,  all  the  other  words  of  that 
tongue  are  derived  or  grammatically  formed  ;  and 
that  IV her  ever  the  radical  letters  are  the  same,  the 
leading  iden  or  notion  runs  through  all  the  deflections 
of  the  zvord,  hozvever  numerous  or  diversified'' 

The  whole  country  then  known  as  that  of  the 
Elamites,  or  Persia,  bore  a  name  in  Hebrew  almost 
identically  the  same  with  "  ram,"  Mr.  Meade,  in 
his  third  book,  conjectures  that  the  Hebrew  word 
for  "  ram,"  and  that  for  *'  Persia,"  both  springing 
from  the  same  root,  and  both  implying  somewhat 
of  strength,  tJie  one  is  not  improperly  made  the  type 
of  tJie  otlier.  His  use  of  that  fact,  however,  differs 
much  from  ours.  We  assume,  then,  that  in  this  and 
other  instances,  the  prophet  used  the  term  "  Per- 
sia" typically,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  express 
the  true  meaning  on  his  part ;  at  the  same  time 
preserving  the  mystic  sense  so  common  and  neces- 


6o  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

sary  in  all  the  prophecies.  Hence  is  drawn  the 
conclusion,  that  "  the  ram  with  horns"  was  not  lit- 
erally the  kingdom  of  Media  and  Persia,  but  in  fact 
the  Roman  Hierarchy.  And  if  the  explanation  had 
not  been  given  in  the  latter  part  of  the  chapter 
(ambiguous  as  it  seems  to  be),  few  would  have  en- 
tertained a  doubt  of  this  application.  And  here  we 
observe  that  the  "  ram"  is  not  usually  represented 
as  having  izvo  horns.  By  reference  to  our  English 
f  version,  it  will  appear  that  before  the  seventh  verse, 
wherever  "  two"  is  used,  no  such  word  is  found  in 
the  original,  nor  is  it  found  in  the  Septuagint.  In 
the  third  verse  one  horn  is  represented  higher  than 
"  the  other,"  which  might  with  equal  propriety  be 
rendered  "  than  another  ;"  and  in  the  seventh  verse, 
where  we  are  informed  that  the  goat  broke  his 
horns,  it  is  not  as  translated,  "  two  horns,"  but 
"both  horns."  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  am- 
biguity was  purposely  adopted.  In  one,  and  the 
most  obvious  aspect,  the  Hierachy  had  two,  and 
but  two,  horns.  But  in  another  aspect,  certainly 
not  less  important,  he  had  more  than  two,  varying 
in  number,  from  time  to  time,  so  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  fix  upon  any  number,  at  any  one  time, 
as  applicable  to  the  whole  period.  His  "  two"  horns 
were  his  temporal  power  on  the  one  side,  and  his 
ecclesiastical  despotism  on  the  other.    The  ecclesi- 


THE  SYMBOL   OF  THE  EAM  WITH  HORNS.     6 1 

astical  was  certainly  higher  than  the  secular ;  and 
in  the  most  obvious  sense,  these  were  represented 
as  two  horns.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  power 
of  the  transgressors  had  come  to  the  full,  the  Hier- 
archy stretched  its  ecclesiastical  domination  over 
all  the  countries  of  Europe,  and  wherever  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  religion  prevailed.  During  a  large 
portion  of  this  1260  years,  there  was  no  single  sec- 
ular despotism  in  Europe  so  absolute  within  its 
own  dominions  as  the  Pope  over  them  all.  In  this 
view  of  the  case,  every  kingdom  thus  situated  was 
most  emphatically  a  horn  of  the  Hierarchy.  And 
so  while  it  was  perfectly  correct  to  describe  it  as 
having  two  horns  in  the  one  case,  it  was  equally 
correct  to  describe  it  as  the  ram  with  horns ;  that 
is,  an  indefinite  number  of  horns,  in  the  o*"her  case. 

It  will  appear,  by  and  by,  in  treating  of  the 
downfall  of  Mahometanism,  how  exceedingly  ap- 
propriate is  the  he-goat,  as  an  emblem  of  that  pow- 
er. Scarcely  less  appropriate  is  the  selection  of 
the  "ram,"  as  a  type  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  or  rath- 
er of  Romanism  as  an  ecclesiastical  system. 

In  speaking  of  his  followers,  Christ  describes 
them  as  his  ''fold,"  his  ''sheep ;"  and  of  those  who 
are  not,  as  "goats."  The  term  sheep,  then,  in  an 
enlarged  sense,  would  comprise  all  nominally 
Christian   countries;    while  "goats"  would   com- 


62  TEE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

prehend  all  others.  But  while  sheep  are  distin- 
guished by  their  quiet  and  peaceful  habits,  there 
is  no  more  choleric  and  bellicose  animal  than  the 
"ram;''  and  from  all  these  premises,  we  conclude 
that  the  ram  described  in  the  first  part  of  chapter 
eight  refers  to  the  Roman  hierarchy,  and  that 
the  word  **  Persia,"  is  used  typically  for  the  "  ram," 
in  the  passage  now  under  consideration  ;  namely, 
the  thirteenth  verse  of  the  tenth  chapter. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  power  that  "  with- 
stood "  the  angel,  is  not  the  "  king  of  Persia,"  but 
"  the  prince  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Persians,"  Arch- 
on  basilcias  Person.  The  proper  meaning  of  arch- 
on  is  chief,  or  principal.  Let  us  apply  this  to  the 
case  in  hand.  The  angel  was  sent  to  destroy  anti- 
christ, the  Roman  hierarchy.  But  "  the  chief  of 
the  kingdom  of  the  ram  "  "  withstood  "  him  twen- 
ty-one years.  The  question  now  arises,  who  was 
the  chief  of  the  kingdom  of  the  ram  ?  or  the  prin- 
cipal horn  of  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  the  Ro- 
man hierarchy  ?  Beyond  all  controversy,  twenty 
years  ago,  and  until  now,  France  was  the  "  chief" 
of  this  kingdom.  France  then  was  truly  the 
"prince  of  the  kingdom  of  the  ram,"  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  prophecy,  should  "  withstand  "  the 
angel  twenty-one  years  ;  and  this  is  precisely  the 
time  that  France  has  withstood  the  will  of  the  Ro- 


TEE  SYMBOL    OF  THE  BAM  WITH  HOBNS.     63 

man  people,  and,  we  may  add,  the  desire  of  almost 
all  Christendom,  to  consume  and  destroy  the  power 
of  the  Hierarchy.  We  may  then  conclude  from  this 
analysis  and  comparison  of  all  these  premises,  pro- 
phetical and  secular,  that  the  1,260  years,  for  which 
the  saints  were  delivered  into  the  power  of  anti- 
christ, will  end  in  the  present  year  1867. 


NOTE   TO    CHAPTER    VIII. 

To  any  one  who  shall  peruse  this  treatise,  it 
will  be  obvious  that  the  whole  argument  is  hinged 
upon  the  existence  of  a  single  fact ;  namely,  that 
the  saints  were  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the 
little  horn — that  is,  the  Roman  church — for  a  time, 
times  and  the  dividing  of  time  (Dan.  vii.  28),  in  the 
year  607,  and  that  that  period  expired  in  1867. 
And  the  writer  freely  admits  that  if  this  proposi- 
tion is  not  substantially  true,  his  whole  argument 
falls  to  the  ground. 

Much  the  largest  portion  of  it  was  written  be- 
fore 1867  ;  and  the  whole  was  completed,  in  almost 
precisely  its  present  form  (excepting  the  loth  chap- 
ter), before  the  end  of  the  month  of  February  of 
that  year. 

Imperative    circumstances    have    postponed    its 


64  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

publication  until  now ;  and  the  question  becomes 
all-important,  Has  the  event  anticipated,  and  upon 
which  the  whole  value  of  the  argument  depends, 
been  accomplished  ?  That  is  to  say,  did  the  period 
of  1260  years  end  in  1867,  or,  substantially,  as  it 
was  supposed  it  would  ? 

That  an  extended  duration,  affecting  millions  of 
persons,  scattered  over  half  the  globe,  should  com- 
mence and  be  perfected  in  all  its  fullness,  among 
all  these  millions,  in  a  single  day  or  a  single  year; 
or  that  the  power  of  antichrist  should  subject  them 
all  to  his  dominion  in  a  single  year,  seems  not  only 
improbable  but  impossible.  The  subjection  of  the 
whole  Christian  world  to  one  controlling  and  per- 
secuting power,  must  be  a  work  of  time  ;  and  we 
may  well  assume,  if  it  were  yet  to  occur,  that  it 
would  proceed  from  small  beginnings,  and  so  by 
constant  and  persevering  encroachments,  finally 
attain  its  zenith  of  despotic  dominion  ;  and  then,  af- 
ter an  interval,  gradually  decline  and  finally  perish. 

From  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  for  about 
400  years,  pagan  persecution  was  endured  almost 
universally.  After  that  there  was  a  period  of  com- 
parative peace  and  quietness.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  the  Bishop  of  Rome  began  to  claim  superior- 
ity over  other  prelates.  But  it  was  by  slow  degrees 
that  his  pretensions  secured  obedience. 


THE  SYMBOL    OF  THE  RAM  WITH  HORNS.     65 

The  fact  that  the  Bishops  of  Rome,  Antioch  and 
Alexandria,  presided  over  primitive  and  apostolic 
churches,  gave  to  them  a  kind  of  pre-eminence 
over  others,  even  as  early  as  the  fourth  century. 
"  About  the  close  of  that  century,  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  surpassed  all  his  brethren  in  the  magnifi- 
cence and  splendor  of  the  church  over  which  he 
presided ;  in  the  riches  of  his  revenue  and  posses- 
sions ;  in  the  number  and  variety  of  his  ministers  ; 
in  his  credit  with  the  people,  and  in  his  sumptu- 
ous and  splendid  manner  of  living." 

"  In  the  fifth  century  a  variety  of  circumstances 
united  in  augmenting  the  power  and  authority  of 
the  Bishop  of  Rome  ;  though  he  had  not  as  yet 
assumed  or  claimed  the  dignity  of  supreme  law- 
giver and  judge  of  the  whole  Christian  church." 

"  Although  the  Roman  Pontiffs  artfully  availed 
themselves  of  every  circumstance  that  could  con- 
tribute to  their  obtaining  universal  dominion,  yet 
it  is  certain  that  towards  the  close  of  the  sixth 
century  the  emperors,  and  the  nations  in  general, 
were  far  from  being  willing  to  bear  with  patience 
the  yoke  of  servitude  which  the  See  of  Rome  was 
arrogantly  imposing  upon  the  Christian  church." 

Now,  assuming  the  Roman  Pontiff  to  be  the 
power  into  whose  hands  the  saints  were  to  be  de- 
livered, it  will  appear  very  certain  from  the  ex- 


(£  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

tracts  above  given,  that  that  consummation  had 
not  yet  arrived  ;  although  he  had  made  great 
strides  towards  attaining  the  desired  end.  For 
two  hundred  years  the  successive  occupants  of 
the  See  of  Rome  had  constantly  been  making  en- 
croachments upon  the  liberty  of  the  Christian 
church  ;  and — as  the  "  little  horn  " — had  undoubt- 
edly secured  a  very  large  despotic  power  ;  but  it  is 
quite  evident  that  something  more  was  necessary 
to  make  the  ''  delivery  "  of  the  saints  into  the  power 
of  the  hierarchy  complete. 

It  was  in  this  condition  of  affairs,  that  in  607 
Phocas  constituted  Boniface  III.  universal  Bishop, 
thus  investing  him  with  a  new,  abnormal,  temporal 
authority  ;  and  this  was  the  commencement  of  the 
absolute  Papal  supremacy — the  1260  years,  as  has 
been  shown  in  Chapter  IV.  of  this  treatise. 

At  this  point  we  step  aside  from  the  general 
scope  of  our  argument,  to  note  what  appears  like 
a  discrepancy  in  the  view  of  some  who  have  com- 
mented upon  Daniel  and  St.  John. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  power  of  the 
Roman  church  is  symbolized  in  Daniel  by  the  "  lit- 
tle horn  "  rising  up  among  the  ten.  It  is  also 
held  that  the  same  church  is  symbolized  in  the 
Revelation  of  St.  John,  by  "  another  beast  coming 
up  out  of  the  earth,  having  two  horns  like  a  lamb." 


TEE  SYMBOL   OF   THE  BAM  WITH  nOBNS.     6/ 

Is  not  the  apparent  discrepancy  reconciled  in 
this  manner  ? 

The  power  and  influence  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  had  been  gradually  and  constantly  grow- 
ing in  Italy,  during  two  hundred  years,  until  it 
had  become  altogether  the  most  potent  ecclesias- 
tical dominion  on  earth,  overriding  some  of  the 
secular  governments  of  Italy.  It  might,  then,  with 
great  propriety,  be  described  as  a  "  little  horn." 

In  607,  Phocas,  by  his  decree,  constituted  this 
same  Bishop  of  Rome  supreme  head  of  the  church, 
not  in  Italy  only,  but  over  all  the  Christian  world. 
It  will  be  observed  that  this  dignity  so  conferred, 
while  it  left  the  Bishop  of  Rome  in  possession  of 
all  his  usurped  authority — by  the  change  in  the 
character  of  his  jurisdiction,  and  by  investing  him 
with  a  vast  quasi  temporal  power — effected  an  en- 
tire revolution  in  the  nature  and  condition  of  his 
government.  While  he  was  before  only  Bishop  of 
Rome,  he  is  now  Supreme  and  Universal  Pontiff. 
From  this  time  the  simple  symbol  of  a  "  little 
horn,"  would  not  fairly  represent  the  Bishop  in 
his  double  sovereign  capacity ;  but  "  the  beast 
coming  up  out  of  the  earth  having  horns  like  a 
lamb,"  would  most  admirably  symbolize  the  same 
Bishop  invested  with  his  new  power  and  pontifical 
robes,   just   emerging   into  supreme   sovereignty. 


6S  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

Before,  he  only  exercised  the  dominion  usurped 
by  an  ambitious  prelate  ;  now,  he  reigns  clothed 
with  (what  would  in  those  times  have  been  con- 
sidered) the  legitimate  authority  of  a  temporal  as 
well  as  spiritual  potentate. 

From  this  time  the  power  of  that  government, 
ecclesiastical  and  temporal,  continued  to  increase, 
until  it  had  grasped  and  absorbed  nearly  the  en- 
tire sovereignty  in  all  the  nations  of  the  civilized 
world.  For  centuries  every  potentate  in  Europe 
trembled  at  the  rebuke  of  the  Pope,  and  his  "  emis- 
aries  and  abettors  in  the  persons  of  priests,  monks, 
and  Jesuits  were  spread  over  all  the  world  as  frogs 
were  in  the  houses,  the  bed-chambers,  the  ovens 
and  the  kneading-troughs  of  the  Eg3^ptians."  In 
fact,  there  was  no  sovereign  in  Europe  who  could 
wield  half  the  power  in  his  own  dominions,  as  the 
heirarchy  over  them  all :  and  during  all  this  long, 
dark  period,  no  one  dared  to  utter  a  sentiment  not 
in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  Rome  ;  and 
no  one  could  do  it  without  subjecting  himself  to 
all  the  pains  and  penalties  which  a  cruel  and  re- 
lentless despotism  could  inflict.  Ignorance,  super- 
stition, credulity  and  persecution,  for  ages  pre- 
served this  empire  over  the  consciences,  the  per- 
sons, the  property,  and  the  liberties  of  mankind. 

It  is  now  near  400  years  since  this  stupendous 


THE  SYMBOL   OF  THE  RAM  WITH  UOIiNS.     69 

fabric  of  power  on  the  one  side,  and  delusion  on 
the  other,  began  to  crumble  and  fall  away,  but  no 
era  has  marked  its  utter  overthrow  until  the  pre- 
sent time. 

Before  the  )^ear  1867  nearly  all  Europe  had  be- 
come emancipated  from  the  thraldom  of  Rome, 
except  Spain  and  Austria  ;  and  now  the  one,  by 
voluntary  action,  and  the  other,  by  a  violent  revo- 
lution, have  shaken  themselves  free  from  the  yoke  of 
bondage,  it  may  be  presumed  forever,  leaving  really 
no  more  power  in  the  hierarchy  than  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  possessed  before  the  decree  of  Phocas. 

The  period  of  1260  years  seems  to  have  closed 
up  in  a  most  signal  and  remarkable  manner,  so  as 
to  leave  no  shred  of  doubt  that  this  is  truly  the 
period  referred  to  by  the  prophet. 

The  whole  sum  of  1260  years  has  been  divided 
into  three  portions  of  almost  equal  length.  From 
the  date  of  the  decree  of  Phocas,  it  was  400  years, 
or  very  near  that,  before  the  heriarchy  became,  by 
gradual  usurpations,  almost  omnipotent  over  the 
conscience  and  person.  For  the  400  or  500  suc- 
ceeding years,  that  power  was  supreme  over  all 
the  Christian  world,  and  now  for  400  )^ears  it  has 
been,  as  gradually  as  it  arose,  crumbling  away,  until 
at  the  very  date  anticipated,  the  last  hold  of  perse- 
cution has  surrendered. 


70  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

The  bull  of  the  Pope  calling  an  Oiciimenical 
Council  to  be  held  in  1869,  is  itself  abundant  proof 
of  the  utter  subversion  of  the  persecuting  power 
(however  the  will  may  remain)  of  the  Hierarchy. 

At  the  time  the  preceding  chapter  was  written, 
it  was  supposed  the  1260  years  would  have  closed 
up  with  the  end  of  the  year  1867,  while  the  final 
consummation  did  not  occur  until  some  months 
later. 

In  relation  to  this  apparent  discrepancy,  it  may 
be  remarked  that  had  no  correction  of  the  common 
chronology  been  made,  but  that  of  our  Bibles  been 
adopted,  the  2421  years  would  have  ended  with 
the  year  1868.  And,  while  the  decree  of  Phocas 
was  granted  in  607,  Boniface  himself,  being  in  a 
feeble  condition,  died  before  the  close  of  that  year; 
so  that,  in  fact,  the  execution  of  the  decree  could 
not  have  been  begun  before  608  :  and,  indeed,  his 
successor  was  not  appointed  until  that  year. 

But  putting  aside  this  explanation,  it  is  a  suffi- 
cient answer,  that  in  periods  of  time  so  long  as 
2421,  and  1260  )''ears,  the  variation  of  half  or  two- 
thirds  of  a  year  is  remarkable  only  for  its  so  exact 
correspondence  with  the  anticipated  event.  Here, 
with  more  than  its  usual  force,  may  we  quote  the 
maxim  of  law,  "  De  minimis  non  curat  lex!' 


THE  SYMBOL   OF  TEE  BAM  WITH  HORNS,     ji 


•  POSTSCRIPT,   JANUARY,   1871. 

Since  the  above  note  was  written,  new  and  ex- 
traordinary developments  have  appeared,  which 
seem  to  require  a  further  notice.  , 

According  to  my  argument,  the  2,421  years  / 
closed  up  in  1868,  as  the  only  nations  which  had  / 
continued  to  submit  to  the  papal  authority  then 
freed  themselves  from  the  yoke  of  ecclesiastical 
despotism.  The  Roman  Pontiff  thus  divested  of 
his  supremacy,  retained  in  Rome  no  more  or  larger 
power  than,  as  the  "■  little  horn,"  he  possessed  be- 
fore the  decree  of  Phocas,  thus  fulfilling  the  terms 
of  the  prophecy. 

During  the  3^ear  1870,  two  events  have  occured 
calculated  to  deeply  enlist  the  public  interest — the 
one,  the  withdrawal  of  the  French  troops  from 
Rome  ;  the  other,  the  occupation  of  Rome  by  the 
Italian  government.  As  the  last  was  a  necessary 
result  of  the  preceding  occurrences,  it  needs  no 
comment.  But  that  the  French  army  remained 
within  the  walls  of  Rome,  avowedly  to  protect  the 
Pope  from  overthrow,  precisely  twenty-one  years, 
is  certainly  a  fact  worthy  of  notice,  when  taken  in 
connection  with  my  argument  written  more  than 
three  years  before  the  close  of  that  term.     But  it 


72 


THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


is  also  noticeable  that  the  twenty-one  years  of  the 
possession  of  Rome  by  the  French  army,  was  not 
coeval  with  the  twenty-one  years  added  in  my 
argument  to  the  2400,  as  it  commenced  and  ended 
two  years  later,  or  a  little  more.  Whether  this  is 
a  true  variation,  and  the  prophecy  was  intended  to 
meet  both  contingencies,  or  whether  the  discrep- 
ancy may  be  removed  by  further  study,  is  not  cer- 
tain. But  when  we  consider  the  difficulties  of  an- 
cient chronology,  we  may  well  presume  that  so 
small  a  disagreement  will  ultimately  be  cleared  up 
and  disappear.  And  even  now,  so  far  as  the  2421 
years  are  concerned,  the  whole  variation  would 
vanish  by  adopting  the  chronology  of  Calmet,  who 
fixes  the  beginning  of  Belshazzar's  reign  at  555 
B.C.,  and  that  of  Cyrus  at  554,  or  a  little  earlier. 
Adopting  this  as  our  starting  point,  and  the  2421 
years  would  end  in  1870. 

As  yet,  however,  I  am  not  prepared  to  change 
my  former  position  in  this  respect. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   SYMBOL   OF   THE   HE-GOAT. 

BUT  it  is  quite  apparent,  as  has  been  before 
remarked,  that  the  question  put  by  the  saint 
comprises  much  more  than  was  answered  by 
"Palmoni,"  ''the  wonderful  numberer."  Let  us 
put  the  questions  into  their  proper  form  : 

"  How  long  shall  be  the  vision, 

First,  Concerning  the  daily  sacrifice,  and 

^  Second,  Concerning  the  transgression  of  desola- 
tion, 

to  give  both, 

First,  The  sanctuary,  and 
Second,  The  host, 

to  be  trodden  under  foot  ?" 

The  answer  is  intended,  most  clearly,  to  meet  but 
one  of  these  inquiries,  "  Unto  two  thousand  and 

4  (73) 


74 


THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


four  hundred  (days)  years.  Then  shall  the  sanctuary 
be  cleansed."  If  my  former  exposition  be  correct, 
this  answer  refers  only  and  exclusively  to  anti- 
christian  Rome. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  pursue  our  investiga- 
tions to  elucidate  the  other  part  of  this  doubly 
duplicated  question.  "  How  long  shall  be  the  vision 
concerning  the  transgression  of  desolation,  to  give 
the  host  to  be  trodden  under  foot  f'  Having  disposed 
of  the  "  ram,"  we  now  proceed  to  investigate  the 
typical  meaning  of  the  "he-goat." 

We  may  assume,  and  it  is  so  affirmed  in  the 
eighth  chapter,  that  the  time  of  this  he-goat  was 
cotemporaneous  with  the  commencement  of  the 
power  of  the  "  ram."  In  the  3'ear  of  our  Lord 
590,  Chosroes  II.  ascended  the  throne  of  Persia. 
He  became  a  very  powerful  sovereign  and  unscru- 
pulous in  all  his  movements.  He  carried  his  arms 
into  Judea,  Libya  and  Egypt.  He  was  equally  suc- 
cessful in  his  wars  against  the  Roman  Emperors. 
In  A.  D.  61 1,  his  army  conquered  nearly  all  Greece. 
He  laid  all  Palestine  waste,  took  the  city  of  Jeru- 
salem ;  and  "  here  the  Persians  committed  such 
outrageous  acts,  as  the  horror  of  them  is  not  to  be 
expressed.  They  sold  90,000  Christians  to  the 
Jews,  who  did  not  buy  them  with  an  intent  to  use 
them  as  the  universal  consent  of  nations  requires 


TEE  SYMBOL   OF  THE  HE- GOAT.  75 

captives  should  be  used,  but,  inventing  unheard  of 
torments,  put  them  to  cruel  death,"  and  "  not  con- 
tent with  their  devastations  in  Asia,  they  rolled  on 
like  an  irresistible  stream,  and  overwhelmed  Egypt, 
pillaging  Alexandria."  His  army  carried  their 
conquest  to  the  very  gates  of  Constantinople,  plun- 
dering, murdering,  and  committing  every  species 
of  violence  upon  the  unhappy  inhabitants  until 
nothing  but  the  Bosphorus  saved  that  city  from  ruin. 
"  These  violent  irruptions  of  the  Persians,  in  which 
they  scattered  destruction  all  around,  roused  up  the 
Emperor,  and  made  him  think  of  some  method  to 
obstruct  or  prevent  them.  He  once  more  sent  his 
embassadors  to  Chosroes  who,  in  most  earnest 
terms,  represented  to  him  how  highly  he  was  en- 
gaged to  the  empire,  and  entreated  him  to  accept  of 
a  peace,  ?//^;^  wliatcver  conditions  he  should  think  fit 
}ii77iself.  But  the  barbarian  grew  more  insolent, 
from  his  submission,  and  affronted  not  only  the  em- 
peror and  empire,  but  blasphemed  God  himself,  for 
he  arrogantly  replied  tliat  he  would  give  ear  to  no  terms 
of  accommodation,  till  he{Heraclius  and  his  people)  had 
solemnly  re7iounced  their  crucified  Savior,  and  public- 
ly adored  the  sun,  the  great  god  of  the  Persians^  This 
was  in  the  year  618.  From  this  time  the  destinies 
of  war  changed  ;  and  although  Chosroes  raised 
many  armies,  which  fought  many  battles  and  made 


76  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

some  conquests,  yet  the  Emperor  Heraclius  was 
most  commonly  successful,  until,  finally,  he  drove 
Chosroes  a  fugitive  from  his  palace,  which  was 
pillaged  and  burnt  by  the  Roman  soldiers  ;  and 
now  his  eldest  son  seized  the  sovereignty,  stopped 
Chosroes  in  his  flight,  caused  eighteen  of  his  sons 
to  be  massacred  before  his  face,  threw  him  into  a 
dungeon,  where  every  indignity  was  heaped  upon 
him  which  malice  could  devise  ;  and,  after  five  days, 
death  put  an  end  to  his  sufferings,  which  happened 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  628 :  and  very  soon  the 
Persian  Empire  was  broken  up,  and  afterwards  sub- 
jected to  the  Arabian  Caliphs. 

This  history  of  Chosroes  is  but  an  enlarged  ac- 
count of  the  he-goat :  "  And  as  I  was  considering, 
behold  a  he-goat  came  from  the  west,  on  the  face 
of  the  whole  earth,  and  touched  not  the  ground ; 
and  the  goat  had  a  notable  horn  between  his  eyes ; 
and  he  came  to  the  ram  that  had  horns,  which  I 
had  seen  standing  before  the  river,  and  ran  unto 
him  in  the  fury  of  his  power,  and  I  saw  him  come 
close  unto  the  ram,  and  he  was  moved  with  choler 
against  him,  and  smote  the  ram,  and  broke  his  two 
horns,  and  there  was  no  power  in  the  ram  to  stand 
before  him,  but  he  cast  him  down  to  the  ground, 
and  stamped  upon  him,  and  there  was  none  that  could 
deliver  the  ram  out  of  his  hand.     Therefore  the 


THE  SYMBOL   OF  THE  HE-GOAT.  77 

he-goat  waxed  very  great ;  and  when  he  was  strong 
the  great  horn  was  broken,  and  for  it  came  up  four 
notable  ones,  towards  the  four  winds  of  heaven." 
There  does  seem  here  to  be  an  inconsistency.  The 
he-goat  is  said  to  come  from  the  west ;  while,  in 
respect  to  the  Christian  portion  of  the  world, 
Chosroes  came  from  the  east.  The  word  here  trans- 
lated ''  west,"  is  in  the  Septuagint  Libos,  preceded 
by  the  preposition  "^/^,"  usually  translated  "from." 
Nevertheless  it  sometimes  means  "against,"  or 
"  athwart,"  either  of  which  would  remove  all  diffi- 
culty. 

The  Greek  word  "  Lips,"  "  Libos,"  is  both  a 
common  noun,  and  a  proper  name.  In  this  place 
we  shall  examine  it  only  as  a  common  noun. 

As  such,  it  may  undoubtedly,  be  correctly  trans- 
lated "  south-west  "  as  a  point  of  the  compass ;  it  is 
so  translated  in  the  twelfth  verse  of  the  twenty- 
seventh  chapter  of  the  Acts. 

The  word  "Lips"  with  combinations  represents 
every  point  of  the  compass  between  the  south  and 
the  west ;  but  neither  the  south  nor  west.  It  may 
be  here  remarked  that  Alexander  did  not  go  from 
the  west  towards  Persia,  but  from  the  north-west, 
and  if  you  give  "  Lips  "  its  true  meaning,  the  point 
would  be  nearly  at  right  angles  to  the  route  from 
Macedonia  to  Persia. 


78  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

Another  meaning  of  "  Lips  "  as  a  common  noun 
is,  Latin,  Pctra ;  English,  "a  place  full  of  rocks  or 
stones." 

How  truly  this  would  represent  Persia  may  be 
seen  by  a  quotation  from  a  modern  geography. 
"  The  distinguishing  features  of  this  country  are 
a  deficiency  of  rivers,  and  a  multitude  of  mountains ; 
its  plains,  where  they  occur,  are  generally  desert." 
"  The  mountains  of  this  country,  which  are  for  the 
most  part  rocky,  without  wood  or  plants,  are  in- 
terspersed with  valleys,  some  of  which  are  stony 
and  sandy."  Another  writer  says,  "  The  most  re- 
markable features  of  Persia  are  its  chains  of  rocky 
mountains  ;  its  long,  arid,  riverless  valleys,  and  the 
still  more  extensive  salt  or  sandy  deserts.  There  is  a 
magnificent  range,  which,  striking  off  from  the 
Caucasus,  accompanies  the  course  of  the  Georgian 
river  Kour,  crosses  it  to  the  west  of  the  plains  of 
Mogan,  covers  Karabaug  and  Karadaug  with  a 
gloomy  assemblage  of  black  peaks.  These  are  the 
principal  stocks,  from  whence  arise  the  multitude  of 
ramifications,  that  cover  the  surface  of  Persia  with 
a  net-work,  as  it  were,  of  rocky  lines,"  Another 
says,  "  It  (Persia)  has  been  termed  a  country  of  moun- 
tains;  and  a  large  portion  of  it  is  certainly  mountain- 
ous." "  The  aspect  of  the  Persian  mountains  ispccu- 
liarly  bare  and    forbidding,    rising   abruptly  from 


THE  SYMBOL    OF  THE  HE- GOAT.  79 

the  plain,  and  presenting  nothing  to  the  eye  but 
large  masses  of  gray  rocks,  piled  upon  each  other." 

Chardin  says,  speaking  of  the  desert  of  Car- 
mania  :  "  At  some  distance  from  the  coast  the 
ground  rises,  and  the  interior  of  the  country,  to- 
wards the  north,  is  intersected  by  numerous  moun- 
tain ranges.  The  soil  upon  these  mountains  is  very 
dry  and  barren ;  and  though  there  are  some  fertile 
valleys  among  them,  they  are  generall)/-  fit  only  for 
the  residence  of  nomadic  shepherds.  This  part  of 
Persia  was  the  original  seat  of  the  eonquerors  of  Asia, 
where  they  were  inured  to  hardship  and  privation  ^ 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  other  country  in  the  world, 
so  large  in  extent,  which  so  exactly  answers  to  "  a 
country  full  of  rocks." 

This  he-goat,  we  are  informed,  is  the  "  king  of 
Grecia."  From  this  passage  all  writers,  for  twenty 
centuries,  have  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that 
Alexander,  namely,  was  symbolized  by  "  tJie  he- 
goat,''  assuming  that  he  was  "  king  of  Grecia^ 
To  this  we  demur  ;  for  Alexander  was  no  more 
king  of  Grecia  than  Chosroes — nay,  he  had  not  so 
good  a  claim  to  the  title.  Alexander  was  king  of 
Macedonia ;  and  whatever  may  be  the  modern  di- 
visions, in  early  times  Macedonia  was  not  Greece 
nor  a  part  of  Greece.  So  late  as  the  time  of  the 
apostles,  we  are  told   "  Paul  called  unto  him  the 


8o  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

disciples,  and  embraced  them,  and  departed  for  to 
go  into  Macedonia.  And  when  he  had  gone  over 
those  parts,  and  had  given  them  much  exhortation, 
he  came  into  Greece.'"  Thus  clearly  showing  that, 
at  that  time,  Macedonia  and  Greece  were  recog- 
nized as  distinct  countries.  And  more  than  this, 
Alexander  himself  never  even  claimed  to  be  the  kiiig 
of  Greece.  Rollin  says :  *'  He  (Alexander)  summon- 
ed at  Corinth  the  assembly  of  the  several  states 
and  free  cities  of  Greece,  to  obtain  from  them  the 
same  supreme  command  against  the  Persians  as 
had  been  granted  his  father,  a  little  before  his 
death.  The  deliberations  of  the  assembly  were 
very  short ;  and  that  prince  was  unanimously  ap- 
pointed generalissimo  against  the  Persians." 

To  a  superficial  observer,  this  explanation  of  the 
he-goat,  namely,  that  he  was  king  of  Grecia,  given 
by  the  angel,  would  seem  to  set  at  rest  the  claim 
that  Chosroes  was  identical  with  the  he-goat.  But 
when  we  consider  that,  for  a  long  time,  Chosroes' 
empire  comprised  nearly  all  Greece  proper,  al- 
though a  Persian  prince,  it  does  not  seem  so 
strange  that  he  should  be  called  "  king  of  Grecia'' 
And  then  when  we  remember  that  this  word 
Grecia,  in  scripture,  often  comprehends  all  the 
countries  inhabited  by  the  descendants  of  Javan, 
and,  further,  that  "  after  the  time  of  Alexander  the 


THE  SYMBOL    OF  THE  HE-GOAT.  8 1 

Great,  when  the  Greeks  became  masters  of  Egypt, 
Syria  and  the  countries  beyond  the  Euphrates,  the 
Jews  included  all  gentiles  under  the  name  of 
Greeks,"  it  would  appear  to  have  been  unexcep- 
tionably  appropriate  to  speak  of  Chosroes  as  the 
'^  kijig  of  Grecia  ;''  far  more  so  than  Alexander. 

Assuming  the  he-goat  to  be  emblematical  of 
Chosroes,  and  the  "  little  horn  which  waxed  ex- 
ceeding great "  his  Mahometan  successors,  the 
type  appears  to  have  been  selected  with  unequal- 
led propriety.  The  words  translated  "  he-goat," 
are  "  o  tragos  aigon  /"  a  he-goat  not  only,  but,  liter- 
ally, "  a  he-goat  of  the  she-goats."  In  the  king-  / 
dom  of  Persia,  in  the  time  of  Chosroes,  polygamy  ' 
prevailed,  he  himself  having  a  seraglio  of  numer- 
ous wives ;  and  the  same  custom,  under  the  sway 
of  Mahometanism,  prevails  until  the  present  time. 
The  he-goat  is  often  used,  even  till  this  day,  as  an 
emblem  of  all  that  is  lascivious  and  wanton  ;  and 
when  described,  as  in  this  phrase,  as  "  a  he-goat  of 
the  she-goats,"  it  would  seem  impossible  to  avoid 
the  conclusion  that  its  reference  is  to  Chosroes  and 
his  Turkish  and  Mahometan  successors,  with  their 
polygamous  harems. 


4* 


CHAPTER   X. 

SOMEWHAT   MORE   OF   THE   RAM   AND    HE-GOAT. 

AS  this  question — Who  were  symbolized  by 
the  he-goat  with  one  horn ;  and  the  ram 
with  horns? — is  one  of  the  fundafnental  problems  of 
the  prophecy  of  Daniel ;  and  as,  for  thousands  of 
years,  no  one  seems  to  have  entertained  a  doubt 
that  Alexander  was  the  he-goat  and  Persia  the 
ram,  it  will  doubtless  be  deemed  by  all  a  bold, 
and  by  many  an  irreverent,  assault  upon  fixed  facts 
of  prophecy  and  history  to  aim  at  any  change  in 
the  world-wide  belief  so  long  and  so  firmly  held. 
But  is  it  not  possible  that  one  grand  error  in  this 
crucial  point  has  heretofore  obscured  the  prophecy 
of  Daniel,  with  that  impenetrable  vail  which  all 
students  have  been  anxious  to  remove,  and  which 
has  been  the  cause  of  so  many  disappointments  ? 

What  appeared  applicable,  in  the  course  of  the 
argument,  has  been  already  written.     Something 
further  may  tend  to  strengthen  our  hypothesis. 
(82) 


MORE   OF  TEE  BAM  AND  HE- GOAT.  83 

The  Greek  word  ''  Lips"  is  both  a  common  noun 
and  a  proper  name.  Its  meaning-  as  a  common 
noun  has  received  sufficient  comment  in  the  last 
chapter.  We  shall  now  notice  it  as  the  proper  name 
of  some  wind.  We  have  a  variety  of  such  names, 
as  "sirocco,"  "simoom,"  and  others.  The  name  of 
a  wind  necessarily  implies  that  the  wind  so  named 
has  a  distinct  identity,  and  usually  blows  in  a  cer- 
tain direction  for  a  fixed  and  somewhat  lengthened 
period,  as  three  months,  or  six  months,  though 
some  receive  their  names  only  because  of  some  dis- 
agreeable or  positive  quality.  The  question  here 
for  us  to  solve  is  the  location  of  the  wind,  desig- 
nated in  the  Greek  by  the  name  "  Lips,"  "  Libos." 

The  word  "  Libonotos"  was  the  name  of  a  wind 
blowing  east  of  Africa,  and  south  of  Asia.  This 
could  be  no  other  than  the  southern  monsoon. 

In  relation  to  this  monsoon,  we  are  told  that,  "  in 
the  tract  between  Sumatra  and  the  African  coast, 
and  from  three  degrees  south  latitude,  quite  north- 
ward to  the  Asiatic  coast,  including  the  Arabian 
Sea  and  the  Gulf  of  Bengal,  the  monsoons  blow 
from  September  to  April  on  the  north-east,  and 
from  March  to  October  on  the  south-west."  "  The 
trade  winds  in  some  parts  are  subject  to  a  change 
of  direction  every  six  months,  and  are  then  called 
monsoons.     When  the  northern  hemisphere  is  ex- 


84  TBE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

posed  to  the  sun's  rays,  Arabia,  Persia,  India  and 
China  being  greatly  heated,  raise  the  temperature 
of  the  atmosphere  that  covers  them,  and  the  cooler 
air  from  the  regions  south  rushes  towards  the 
parts.  It  will  therefore  follow,  that  for  one  six 
months  the  trade  wind  is,  in  this  instance,  produced 
by  a  current  of  air  rushing  from  the  equatorial  re- 
gions." And  another  writer  says :  "  It  is  in  the 
Indian  seas,  however,  and  especially  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  great  Asiatic  continent,  that  the  disturbing 
influence  of  the  land  is  most  clearly  exhibited,  issu- 
ing in  a  complete  reversal  of  the  north-east  trade 
during  a  considerable  portion  of  the  year ;  and  the 
production  oi  monsoons,  that  is,  of  winds  which  blow 
half  the  year  in  one,  and  the  other  half  in  a  con- 
trary direction." 

The  south-west  monsoon  commences  north  of 
the  equator,  and,  driving  in  a  north-east  direction 
from  the  coast  of  Africa,  passes  over  the  south-east 
desert  of  Arabia,  and  thence  over  the  southern  part 
of  Persia. 

To  return  to  "  Libonotos."  It  is  composed  of 
two  Greek  words,  namely,  "  Lips,"  or  "  Libos,"  the 
genitive,  and  ''  Notos,"  south.  Now,  as  we  know 
that  "  Lips"  is  the  name  of  a  ivind,  and,  connected 
with  Notos,  it  means  the  "  southern  monsoon ;"  if 
we  separate  Notos,  southern,  it  leaves  only  Libos — 


MORE  OF  THE  RAM  AND  HE- 00 AT.  85 

monsoon.  As  this  southern  monsoon  originates 
near  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  pervades  Southern 
Persia,  we  can  hardly  escape  the  conclusion  that 
'^  Apo  Libos"  [if  a  proper  name  here]  should  be  ren- 
dered "  from  the  region  or  direction  of  the  mon- 
soons." And  as  the  monsoon  could  be  reached 
from  the  Holy  Land,  and  from  other  countries  most 
interested  in  the  prophecy,  in  no  other  direction 
by  land,  than  through  Persia  (except  over  the  des- 
ert of  Arabia),  it  seems  a  just  conclusion  that  the 
country  from  which  the  he-goat  must  come  was 
that  very  land  ruled  by  Chosroes. 

It  is  a  significant  coincidence  that  "  Libos,"  a 
common  noun,  describes  Persia  so  perfectly  as 
"a  country  full  of  rocks,"  while  "  Libos,"  a  proper 
name,  seems  to  point,  unmistakably,  to  the  same 
country  as  the  locality  of  the  monsoons. 

One  mode  of  proof,  to  sustain  the  position  that  the 
he-goat  symbolized  Macedonia,  is  certainly  unique. 
The  writer,  a  firm  believer  in  that  position,  pre- 
sents his  proposition  as  follows :  "  The  prophet 
Daniel  describes  Macedonia,  under  the  emblem 
of  a  goat  with  one  horn  ;  and  //  is  therefore  of  great 
consequence,  that  this  symbol  should  be  proved  to  be 
that  proper  to  Macedonia ;  for  if  this  country  had 
no  such  emblem  belonging  to  it,  we  must  look  to  an- 
other kingdom  for  a   fulfillment  of   the   prophecy, 


86  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

which  would  be  contrary  to  history,  and  would 
produce  inextricable  confusion."  It  must  strike 
every  one,  that  in  this  short  extract  the  writer  ig- 
nores inductive  reasoning  and  begs  the  question 
two  or  three  times  over. 

The  only  cases  cited  to  prove  that  the  one-horned 
goat  was  the  symbol  of  Macedonia,  are, 

1st,  In  the  reign  of  Archelius,  of  Macedon, 
"  there  occurs  on  the  reverse  of  a  coin  of  that 
kingdom  the  head  of  a  goat  having  one  horn." 

2d,  "  An  ancient  bronze  figure  of  a  goat  with  one 
horn  was  dug  up  in  Asia  Minor  T' 

Now  as  Asia  Minor  had  often  been  conquered  by 
the  Persians,  and  at  one  time  been  in  their  posses- 
sion for  twelve  successive  years,  why  should  it  be 
taken  for  granted  that  this  bronze  figure  was  Mace- 
donian rather  than  Persian  ?  Macedonia  was  nearer 
to  Asia  Minor,  to  be  sure,  but,  under  the  circum- 
stances, the  probabilities  that  the  figure  was  Per- 
sian, were  far  greater  than  that  it  was  Macedonian. 

3d.  Another  fact  is  mentioned  as  of  very  great 
significance:  "In  one  of  the  Pilasters  oi Persepolis, 
a  goat  is  represented  with  an  immense  horn  grow- 
ing out  of  the  middle  of  the  forehead ;  and  a  man 
in  Persian  dress,  is  seen  by  his  side,  holding  the 
horn  with  his  left  hand  ;  by  zvJiicJi  is  signified  the  sub- 
jection of  Macedon. ''     Every  one  must  see  that  here 


MORE  OF  THE  RAM  AND  HE-GOAT.  87 

the  question  is  begged  again.  These  are  the  only 
instances  given,  although  it  is  added  that  Mr.  Combe 
observes  that  not  only  many  of  the  individual  towns 
in  Macedon  employed  this  type,  but  the  kingdom 
itself  "  was  represented  also  by  a  goat,  with  this 
particularity,  that  it  had  but  one  horn." 

On  the  other  hand,  we  are  told  that  "  Persia  was 
represented  by  a  ram."  Ammianus  Marcellinus  ac- 
quaints us,  that  "  the  king  of  Persia,  when  at  the 
head  of  his  army,  wore  a  ram's  head  made  of  gold." 
And  then  we  are  further  informed  that  "  the  type 
of  Persia,  the  ram,  is  observable  on  a  very  ancient 
coin,  undoubtedly  Persian,  in  Dr.  Hunter's  collec- 
tion." It  will  be  observed  that  here  again  the  ques- 
tion is  begged,  and  the  item  of  evidence  depends 
upon  the  opinion  that  the  coin  was  Persian,  while, 
prima  facie,  the  great  probability  is  that  it  was  As- 
syrian or  Babylonian. 

Mr.  Combe  further  says  (after  giving  a  represen- 
tation of  a  head  of  a  ram  and  a  one-horned  goat) : 
*'  It  will  be  seen  by  the  drawing  I  have  made  of 
this  gem,  that  nothing  more  nor  less  is  meant  by 
the  ram's  head  with  two  horns,  and  the  goat's  head 
with  one,  than  the  kingdoms  of  Macedonia  and 
Persia  represented  under  their  appropriate  sym- 
bols." This  again  begs  the  question ;  but  if  the 
application  be  correct,  the  probability  appears  just 


88  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

as  strong  that  the  one  horn  represented  Persia  as 
the  contrary. 

The  resources  of  the  writer  have  been  very 
limited,  indeed,  so  far  as  numismatics  are  concern- 
ed. But  his  investigations  have  resulted  thus : 
In  Rees'  Cyclopaedia,  under  "  Medals,"  we  find 
this  statement :  "  It  was  in  the  reign  of  Servius 
TuUius  that  the  first  Roman  coins  appeared,  which 
were  large  pieces  of  brass,  rudely  impressed,  only 
on  one  side,  with  the  figure  of  an  ox,  a  ram,  or 
some  other  animal."  This  was  near  700  years  be- 
fore Christ.  There  is  a  copper  medal,  of  the  reign 
of  Britannicus,  in  Captain  Smyth's  collection,  upon 
the  reverse  of  which  is  the  figure  of  a  ram.  This 
was  not  far  from  the  Christian  era. 

In  Calmet  there  is  given  the  copy  of  a  medal 
"  in  proof  that  Macedonia  was  divided  into  several 
provinces  (four,  at  least,)  when  under  the  Roman 
government."  This,  therefore,  was  undoubtedly  a 
Macedonian  medal.  This  medal  has  the  head  of  a 
ram  on  one  side  ;  and  a  complete  ram,  reclining,  on 
the  reverse. 

Here  are  three  distinct  cases  where  the  ram, 
with  horns,  was  used  symbolically  by  the  Eastern 
or  Western  Empires. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  a  significant  fact  is 
mentioned  by  Bishop  Chandler,  who  observes  that 


MORE   OF  THE  RAM  AND  HE- GOAT.  89 

"  princes  and  nations  being  of  old  painted  by  their 
symbols,  which  Procopius  calls  GNorismata,  they 
came  afterwards  to  be  distinguished  by  writers 
with  the  names  of  their  symbols  as  by  their  ap- 
pellations. Yet  Alexander  derived  himself  from 
Jupiter  Ammon,  and  he  and  his  successors  had  two 
rains  horns  on  their  coins,  the  very  description  of 
the  former  beast." 

We  are  further  told  that  "  Jupiter  Ammon  was 
usually  represented  under  the  figure  of  a  ram  ; 
though,  in  some  medals,  he  appears  of  a  human 
shape,  having  only  two  ram's  horns  growing  out 
beneath  his  ears."  And  accordingly  Alexander 
and  his  successors  placed  the  symbol  of  a  ram's 
horns  around  their  ears,  which  may  be  seen  on 
various  coins  and  medals,  which  may  be  fairly  set 
off  against  the  story  of  Ammianus  Marcellinus. 

Turning  now  to  Persia,  we  have  given  before  all 
the  proof  within  our  reach  of  the  ram  as  a  Persian 
symbol.  The  figure  of  a  ram  is  found  among  the 
sculptures  of  Persepolis,  but  it  is  placed  indis- 
criminately along  with  lions,  deer,  bulls,  horses 
and  camels,  with  no  mark  of  distinction  what- 
ever. 

On  the  other  hand,  goats  and  other  animals  with 
one  horn  are  found  sculptured  everywhere.  Mr. 
Combe  gives  the  instance  before   quoted,   of   "  a 


90  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

goat  with  an  immense  horn  growing  out  of  the 
middle  of  his  forehead." 

"  In  the  general  procession  which  adorns  the 
palace  of  Persepolis,  there  appears  the  emblem  of 
two  goats,  each  having  one  horn."  This  is  found 
in  other  instances,  especially  upon  the  pillars 
around  the  porticoes. 

Among  the  ornaments  of  the  palace  are  many 
hundred  figures  sculptured  in  basso  relievo. 

Le  Bru}^  gives  the  following  account  of  some 
of  those  upon  the  pilasters : 

"  Under  a  portal  of  the  west  is  the  figure  of  a 
man  hunting  a  bull,  who  has  one  Jiorn  in  his  fore- 
head.'' 

"  The  second  portal  discovers  the  figure  of  a 
man  carved  in  the  same  manner,  with  a  deer,  that 
greatly  resembles  a  lion,  having  a  horn  in  his  fore- 
head.'' 

"  The  same  representations  are  to  be  seen  under 
the  portal  to  the  north,  with  this  exception,  that, 
instead  of  the  deer,  there  is  a  great  lion." 

"  There  are  also  two  other  figures  on  each  side 
in  the  two  niches  to  the  south,  one  of  which  grasps 
the  horn  of  a  goat  with  one  hand." 

"Another  of  these  sculptures  also  represents  a 
man  who,  with  one  hand,  seizes  the  (single)  horn 
of  an  animal  which  he  has  attacked." 


MOBE   OF  THE  BAM  AND  HE- GOAT.  91 

Here  are  a  great  variety  of  sculptures  represent- 
ing an  animal  with  one  horn,  of  which  many  are 
goats.  Can  we  draw  any  other  inference  from 
these  facts  than  that  the  one-horned  animal  was  a 
symbol  adopted  and  recognized  by  Persia  ?  And  we 
are  supported  in  this  opinion  by  the  unquestionable 
fact,  that  Media,  then  an  integral  part  of  Persia, 
was  so  symbolized. 

The  author  before  quoted  says :  *'  This  (the  two 
goats  with  one  horn  each  sculptured  at  Persepolis) 
would  be  extremely  embarrassing  if  we  did  not 
know  that  these  two  Medias  being,  as  they  were, 
in  some  respects,  but  one  province,  though  divid- 
ed, so  they  were  represented  by  two  goats  walk- 
ing together."  He  therefore  concludes  that  "  Me- 
dia was  symbolized  by  the  single-horned  goat,  a7id 
that  the  Macedonians,  being  derived  fron  tJience, 
retained  the  symbol  of  their  original  country ^ 

Without  stopping  to  comment  upon  the  obvious 
fact  that  the  conclusion  is  altogether  too  far-fetch- 
ed to  be  of  any  value,  we  suggest  whether,  as 
Media  and  Persia  had  become  consolidated  into 
one  nation,  it  would  not  be  far  more  reasonable  to 
assume  that  the  consolidated  nation  had  adopted 
the  original  and  national  symbol  of  one  of  them. 

The  one-horned  goat  was  a  frequent  symbol  with 
the  Assyrians,  and  Layard  has  the  remark,  that,  at 


92 


THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


"  the  period  of  the  fall  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  and 
of  the  rise  of  the  kingdoms  of  Babylon  and  Persia, 
the  arts  passed  from  Assyria  to  the  sister  nations." 

In  conclusion,  while  the  writer  does  not  place  as 
much  confidence  as  some  others  in  any  numismat- 
ical  arguments  or  those  drawn  from  sculptures, 
the}^  nevertheless  do  appear  much  more  to  strength- 
en his  view  of  the  case  than  the  other. 

There  is  a  passage  which,  giving  its  popular 
meaning,  may  seem  to  conflict  with  our  view  in  an 
important  particular.  The  passage  is  in  the  second 
verse  of  the  eleventh  chapter,  and  is  as  follows : 
"  Behold,  there  shall  stand  up  yet  three  kings  in 
Persia ;  and  the  fourth  shall  be  far  richer  than  they 
all :  and  by  his  strength  through  his  riches,  he 
shall  stir  up  all  against  the  realm  of  Grecia." 
The  fourth  king  is  commonly  supposed  to  refer  to 
Xerxes.  If  you  begin  with  Cyrus,  Xerxes  was 
the  fifth  king,  and  the  language  seems  to  imply 
that  he  is  the  first ;  and,  if  so,  the  text  does  not 
refer  to  Xerxes.  That  king  has  been  called  "  the 
great."  In  what  did  his  greatness  consist  ?  He 
raised  an  army,  if  we  may  believe  the  historian,  of 
over  2,000,000  of  men.  But  the  greatness  of  this 
army  proved  his  utter  unworthiness  of  the  title 
given  him.  His  vast  army  was  successfully  re- 
sisted at  Thermopylae  by  300  Spartans  and  iioo 


MORE   OF  THE  RAM  AND  HE-GOAT.  93 

Thespians  and  Thebans,  until  betrayed  by  a  villain. 
He  burnt  the  empty  houses  of  Athens,  and  got 
sadly  beaten  in  the  battle  of  Salamis ;  and  here 
ends  his  mihtary  history.  "  In  his  precipitate  re- 
treat he  left  behind  him  all  his  riches  and  magnifi- 
cence." 

We  suggest  whether  the  word  king  here  does 
not  really  mean  dynasty,  provided  we  are  to  un- 
derstand the  language  literally. 

Cyrus  was  king  of  Persia  at  the  time  of  Daniel's 
prophecy.  Thus,  the  A^chcemenian  dynasty  ended 
with  Darius  Codomannus,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Alexander  and  the  Seleiician,  324  B.  c.  In  255  the 
Parthians  founded  the  third  Persian  dynasty — the 
Arsanca7i  of  classic  writers.  This  dynasty  lasted 
till  A.  D.  226,  under  thirty-four  monarchs.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  third  century,  "  Adishir,  of  the 
Persians,  founded  the  Sasanian  dynasty,  which, 
under  twenty-eight  or  twenty-nine  kings  continued 
upwards  of  400  years." 

Near  the  close  of  this  (fourth)  dynasty  reigned 
Ckosroes,  styled  "  the  great,"  '*  who  is  considered 
by  the  Persians  a  model  of  justice,  generosity  and 
sound  policy.  His  reign  of  forty-eight  years — 
from  A  .D.  531  to  579,  was  the  golden  age  of  mod- 
ern Persia." 

"  He  received,  as  tokens  of  homage,  ambassadors. 


94 


TEE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


with  rich  presents,  from  the  (greatest  potentates  of 
the  East,  at  his  splendid  palace  at  Ctesiphon,  one 
of  the  wonders  of  that  part  of  the  world."  "  His 
empire  extended  from  the  Red  Sea  to  the  Indus." 

His  grandson,  Chosroes  W.,  "  is  still  more  cele- 
brated in  the  East  for  his  luxury  and  magnificence  ; 
and  Oriental  history  abounds  in  tales  of  his  palaces, 
his  superb  thrones,  his  ininicnse  treasures,  his  un- 
rivalled poets  and  musicians,  his  50,000  Arab 
horses  and  his  3,000  beautiful  women." 

And,  speaking  of  Dastagerd,  Chosroes'  capital, 
the  writer  says  :  "  Its  marvelous  beauty  and  pomp 
have  been  extolled  by  visitors  and  poets ;  and  even 
grave  historians  speak  minutely  of  its  paradise  (or 
park),  containing  pheasants,  peacocks,  ostriches ; 
roebucks  and  wild  goats ;  of  its  lions,  tigers,  des- 
tined for  the  pleasure  of  the  chase  ;  of  the  960  ele- 
phants, 20,000  camels,  6,000  mules  and  horses ;  of 
the  6,000  guards  that  watched  before  the  gates  ;  of 
the  12,000  slaves  and  3,000  women  subjected  to  his 
caprices  and  passions;  of  the  precious  metals, 
gems,  silks,  aromatics  in  a  hundred  subterranean 
vaults  of  the  palace ;  of  its  30,000  hangings, 
40,000  columns,  and  of  its  cupola,  with  1,000  globes 
of  gold,  imitating  the  motion  of  the  planets  and 
the  constellations  of  the  zodiac." 

Even  the  writer  of  the  "Arabian  Nights  "  refers 


MORE   OF  THE  RAM  AND  HE- GOAT.  95 

to  his  riches :  "  The  lady  Zobeide  pulled  off  from 
her  neck  a  necklace  worth  the  treasures  of  a  Chos- 
roes." 

We  have  before  4iad  occasion  to  refer  to  the 
power,  conquests  and  cruel  treatment  of  both  Jews 
and  Christians  of  the  second  Chosroes ;  and  as  this 
was  the  fourth  dynasty  from  and  including  Cyrus, 
we  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  reader  whether 
the  "  fourth  king,"  far  richer  than  they  all,  does 
not  apply  to  this  dynasty  with  much  more  pro- 
priety than  to  the  luckless  Xerxes. 

The  war  between  Heraclius  and  Chosroes  was 
considered  as  much  a  religious  as  a  civil  war ;  and, 
being  destitute  of  means  to  repel  the  enemy,  Her- 
aclius "  had  recourse  to  the  clergy,  who  were  more 
immediately  concerned  in  this  quarrel ;  of  whom, 
therefore,  he  borrowed  all  the  vessels  of  gold  and 
silver  belonging  to  the  churches  of  Constantinople, 
which  he  coined  into  money,  wherewith  to  pay  his 
soldiers,  who  were  marching  to  fight  in  defence  of 
their  lives,  their  liberties  and  religion." 

It  will  further  be  remembered,  that,  in  the  sev- 
enth verse  of  the  eighth  chapter,  the  prophet 
states  that  he  saw  the  he-goat  '■'come  close  Jinto  the 
ramy  Now  this  phraseology  seems  to  imply  very 
decidedly,  that  whatever  power  is  referred  to,  did 
not  overrun  the  country  of  the  ram,  only  coming 


96  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

near  to  it ;  but,  by  some  other  means  or  mode, 
broke  his  power,  humbled  and  trampled  him  under 
foot.  Alexander  not  only  came  close  unto  Media 
and  Persia,  but  overrun  them*  both  ;  and,  not  stop- 
ping there,  conquered  immense  territories  beyond 
them.  His  thus  passing  over  and  subjugating  Me- 
dia and  Persia,  and  then  carrying  his  conquests  a 
thousand  miles  beyond,  seems  to  be  very  imper- 
fectly described  by  the  phrase  "  cajue  close  tmtor 

It  is  also  stated  by  the  prophet,  "  that  the  he- 
goat  waxed  very  great ;  and  when  he  was  strong, 
the  great  horn  was  broken."  The  breaking  of  a 
horn  seems  to  imply  something  more  than  a  nat- 
ural death.  It  can  mean  nothing  less  than  a  power 
violently  destroyed,  or  greatly  humbled  by  another 
power.  But  Alexander  died  in  the  plenitude  of 
his  prosperity,  in  his  own  bed,  leaving  his  king- 
dom the  most  powerful  on  earth. 

There  is  no  author  who  more  confidently  main- 
tains that  the  he-goat  was  Alexander,  than  RoUin  ; 
and,. in  order  to  substantiate  his  position,  he  cites 
from  Daniel,  that  "  the  great  horn  was  broken ; 
and  there  came  up  four  notable  ones,  towards  the 
four  winds  of  heaven  ;"  and  then  shows  how  Alex- 
ander's domains  were  divided  —  not  by  any  vio- 
lence, but  b}^  mutual  consent.  "  In  Europe,"  he 
says,  "  Thrace  and  the  adjacent  regions  were  con- 


MOBE  OF  THE  RAM  AND  HE- GOAT.  97 

veyed  to  Lysimachus ;"  "  and  Macedonia,  Epirus 
and  Greece  were  allotted  to  Antipater  and  Crat- 
erus."  "  In  Africa,  Egypt  and  the  other  conquests 
of  Alexander  in  Libya  and  Cyrenaica,  were  assign- 
ed to  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Lagus,  with  that  part  of 
Arabia  which  borders  on  Egypt."  "  In  Lesser 
Asia,  Lycia,  Pamphylia  and  the  greater  Phrygia, 
were  given  to  Antigonus  ;  Cavia  to  Cassander;" 
"■  Lydia  to  Menander ;"  "  the  Lesser  Phrygia  to 
Leonatus  ;"  "Armenia  to  Neoptolemus  ;"  "  Cappa- 
docia  and  Paphlagonia  to  Eumenes  ;"  "  Syria  and 
Phoenicia  fell  to  Leomedon  ;"  "  one  of  the  two  Me- 
dias  to  Atropates,"  "  and  the  other  to  Perdiccas  ;" 
"  Persia  was  assigned  to  Peucestes  ;"  "  Babylonia 
to  Archon ;"  "  Mesopotamia  to  Arcesilas;"  "  Parthia 
and  Arcania  to  Phrataphernes ;  "  Bactriana  and 
Sogdiana  to  Philip."  "  The  other  regions  v/ere 
divided  among  other  generals  whose  names  are 
now  but  little  known." 

Thus,  instead  of  the  four  horns  which  were  to 
come  up  out  of  the  great  broken  horn  of  Alexander, 
we  see  his  empire  peaceably  distributed  to,  at  least, 
eighteen  sovereigns,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
select  out  of  these  the  four  more  notable  than  some 
other  four,  equally  so.  Indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  dis- 
cover, in  any  possible  aspect,  the  least  resemblance 
between  the  disintegration  of  the  empire  of  Alex- 
5 


gS  TifE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

ander  and  the  prophetic  end  of  the  he-goat.  It 
is  true  that  thirty  years  after  the  death  of  Alex- 
ander his  former  dominions  were  measurably  re- 
united, and  a  part  of  them  formed  nominally  into 
four  governments.  But,  after  a  very  short  time, 
the  whole  were  again  reduced  to  a  chaotic  stat&, 
and  out  of  them  there  arose  nothing  like  the  fifth 
horn  till  after  the  lapse  of  900  years. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  this  part  of  the  history  of 
Chosroes,  and  ascertain  how  far  the  actual  exploits 
and  the  succession  of  that  monarch  correspond 
with  the  prophecy.  We  are  told  that  "  during  the 
life  of  Maurice "  (Roman  emperor)  "  peace  was 
preserved  between  the  two  nations  "  (Persia  and 
the  empire).  "  But  on  his  assassination  by  Phocas 
in  602,  Chosroes  took  up  arms  to  revenge  the  death 
of  his  benefactor ;  and  in  the  space  of  fourteen 
years  subdued  almost  all  the  provinces  of  the 
Greek  empire.  In  611  Antioch  was  taken  ;  in  the 
following  year  Cesarea,  the  capital  of  Cappadocia, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Persians  ;  in  614  the 
whole  of  Palestine  was  subdued  ;  in  616  Egypt  was 
conquered,  and  Alexandria  was  taken  by  Chosroes 
'iimself,  while  another  Persian  army  subdued  the 
whole  of  Asia  Minor,  and  advanced  as  far  as  the 
Bosphorus.  The  Roman  empire  was  on  the  brink 
of  ruin.     The  capture  of  Alexandria  had  deprived 


MORE   OF  THE  RAM  AND  HE- GOAT. 


99 


the  inhabitants  of  Constantinople  of  their  usual 
supply  of  corn  ;  the  northern  barbarians  ravaged 
the  European  provinces,  while  the  powerful  Per- 
sian army  on  the  Bosphorus  was  making  prepara- 
tions for  the  siege  of  the  imperial  city.  His  vic- 
torious troops  remained  encamped  for  twelve  )'ears 
in  the  vicinity  of  Constantinople."  He  reduced 
Heraclius  and  the  empire  to  the  very  lowest  con- 
dition of  abject  humility,  and  fairly  "  stamped  upon 
them,''  insomuch  that  Heraclius  offered  to  make 
peace  with  him  on  any  terms  he  would  propose. 

But  it  will  be  observed  that  Heraclius  was  not 
actually  subdued,  nor  the  Roman  Empire,  prop- 
erly speaking,  actually  invaded ;  but  Chosroes  with 
his  Persian  hosts  "  came  close  iinto  "  the  very  capi- 
tal of  the  Empire.  At  the  time  of  Chosroes'  in- 
vasion, very  near,  if  not  quite,  half  the  Christians 
in  the  world  were  found  in  Asia.  These  were  all 
subjected  by  Chosroes,  and  the  cruel  and  diabol- 
ical manner  in  which  he  maltreated  and  murdered 
them  as  Christians,  could  not  be  better  expressed 
than  by  the  casting  down,  and  stamping  upon 
them. 

The  great  difficulty  Avith  the  prophecy  lies  in  the 
explanation  given  by  the  angel :  "  The  ram  which 
thou  sawest,  having  (two)  horns  (are)  the  kings  of 
Media  and  Persia."    Upon  this  it  may  be  remarked 


lOO  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

that  a  horn  is  always  the  emblem  of  power.  At 
the  time  of  the  conquest  of  Persia  by  Alexander, 
Media  was  not  a  power,  nor  in  any  way  independent ; 
it  had  been  absorbed  in  the  empire  of  Persia.  It 
would,  therefore,  seem  no  more  proper  to  repre- 
sent it  as  a  distinct  horn,  than  the  other  provinces, 
which  had,  successively,  been  conquered  and  ab- 
sorbed into  that  state.  But  it  is  a  well  authenti- 
cated fact,  that  after  the  subversion  of  Media,  and 
her  incorporation  into  Persia,  very  many  of  the 
customs  of  Media  were  adopted  by  Persia  ;  and 
it  seems  almost  certain  that  the  symbol  of  a  one- 
horned  goat  was  so  adopted  ;  and  this  presump- 
tion is  much  strengthened  by  the  inscription  of 
this  emblem  so  often  appearing  about  the  palace 
of  Persepolis. 

A  well-informed  writer  says  :  "  Madai  was  the 
third  son  of  Japheth,  and  father  of  the  Medes." 
"  But,"  he  adds,  "  some  suppose  that  Media  is  too 
distant  from  the  other  countries  peopled  by  Ja- 
pheth, and  cannot  be  comprehended  under  the  name 
of  the  '  Isles  of  the  Gentiles,'  which  were  allotted 
to  the  sons  of  Japheth." 

And  again,  Calmet  says,"  "  Media,  a  country  east 
of  Assyria,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  peo- 
pled by  the  descendants  of  Madai,  son  of  Japheth. 
The  Greeks  maintain  that  this  country  (Media)  takes 


MORE  OF  THE  BAM  AND  HE- 00 AT.  loi 

its  name  from  Mediis,  son  oi Medea;  and  truly  if  what 
has  been  said,  under  the  article  '  Madai,'  may  be 
relied  on,  or  if  this  son  of  Japheth  peopled  Mace- 
donia, we  must  seek  another  origin  for  the  people 
of  Media."  In  another  place  in  Calmet  we  find, 
"  Gomer  was  probably  the  father  of  the  Cimbri, 
Magog  of  the  Scythians,  and  Madai  of  the  Mace- 
donians." 

We  have  cited  these  authorities  to  show  how 
strong  the  testimony  is  that  Macedonia  was,  and 
Media  was  not,  peopled  by  the  descendants  of 
Madai ;  for  if  Media  was  not,  then  the  prophecy 
does  not  at  all  refer  to  the  Medes  ;  but  if  Macedo- 
nia was,  as  the  word  Madai  is  used  by  the  prophet, 
the  whole  force  of  the  argument  is  transferred 
from  Media  to  Macedonia :  and  so,  as  at  that  time 
the  Roman  Empire  had  been  extended  to  the  Bos- 
phorus,  and  included  Macedonia  as  well  as  all 
Greece,  and  the  civil  government  had  been  trans- 
ferred from  Rome  to  Constantinople,  while  the 
ecclesiastical  [the  little  horn]  remained  at  Rome, 
it  would  not  be  inappropriate  to  symbolize  the 
Eastern  Empire  by  the  horn  of  Macedonia,  it  being 
a  representative  kingdom  of  that  part  of  the  em- 
pire. 

On  this  very  important  point,  we  may  be  per- 
mitted to  adduce  another  piece  of  corroborative 


102  TEE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

evidence  of  our  correctness,  in  supposing  the  ram 
to  symbolize  the  hierarchy.  In  Mr.  Faber's  essay 
on  the  symboHcal  language  of  prophecy,  he  re- 
marks :  "  In  the  rich  imagery  of  Daniel  and  St. 
John,  different  symbols  are  used  to  signify  the 
same  thing  ;  but  no  one  symbol  is  ever  used  to  express 
different  things,  unless  such  different  things  have  a 
manifest  analogical  resemblance  to  each  other." 
Let  us  bear  this  rule  in  mind  while  we  examine 
the  following  paragraph  from  the  Apocalypse,  19th 
chap,  nth  verse:  "And  I  beheld  another  beast 
coming  up  out  of  the  earth,  and  he  had  two  horns 
like  a  lamb,  and  he  spake  as  a  dragon."  Upon  this 
Bishop  Newton  says,  "  The  beast  with  two  horns 
like  a  lamb,  is  the  Roman  hierarchy." 

This  appearance  of  the  hierarchy,  as  a  lamb  with 
two  horns,  refers  to  that  ecclesiastical  power  in  its 
early  state  of  existence,  before  it  had  attained  the 
power  of  coercion  and  persecution.  At  that  time, 
as  a  Christian  institution,  while  it  was,  as  yet, 
only  reaching  after  absolute  authority  over  the 
minds  and  bodies  of  men,  it  was  ver}^  aptly  repre- 
sented as  a  lamb,  a  lamb,  however,  7uith  horns  ; 
that  is  to  say,  a  lamb  which,  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  events,  and  by  the  regular  process  of  nature, 
would  in  a  little  time  become  a  full-grown  ram. 
Adopting  the  rule  of  symbols  laid  down  by  Faber, 


MORE   OF   TUE  RAM  AND  HE- GOAT. 


103 


and  the  comment  of  Newton  upon  the  passage 
cited,  it  seems  impossible  to  avoid  the  conclusion, 
that  the  ram  in  Daniel,  standing  before  the  river, 
with  horns,  or,  if  you  please,  "  with  two  horns," 
represents  the  hierarchy,  or,  as  then  constituted, 
the  whole  Christian  world,  under  the  domination 
of  the  Pope  of  Rome,  and  according  to  Faber, 
could  not  represent  Persia. 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE    HOLY    CITY    TRODDEN    DOWN    OF    THE    GEN- 
TILES   1260  YEARS. 

AFTER  the  death  of  Chosroes  his  empire  fell 
to  pieces,  and  formed  the  separate  national- 
ities of  Persia,  Arabia,  Egypt,  and  the  country 
between  Persia  and  Europe,  which  became  a  part 
of  the  Roman  Empire ;  thus  constituting  four  horns 
where  but  one  had  existed  before,  all  of  them  suffi- 
ciently notable.  This  condition  of  affairs,  how- 
ever, continued  but  a  very  short  time,  for  out  of 
one  of  them,  namely,  Arabia,  "  came  forth  a  little 
horn,  which  waxed  exceeding  great."  To  this  is 
added  in  our  version,  "  toward  the  south,  and  to- 
ward the  east,  and  toward  the  pleasant  land."  The 
Septuagint  has  it  ''pros  noton  pros  duimniin — "  to- 
ward the  south  with  power."  The  one  translation 
answers  our  purpose  as  well  as  the  other.  If  the 
Septuagint  reading  be  adopted,  the  whole  passage 
will  read,  "  And  out  of  one  of  them,  towards  the 
(104) 


THE  nOLY  CITY  TBODDEN  DOWN.  105 

south,  came  forth,  with  power,  a  little  horn,  which 
waxed  exceeding  great." 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  Chosroes  was  over- 
thrown and  his  kingdom  destroyed  in  628.  About 
the  year  607  Mahomet  first  concocted  his  baleful 
enterprise,  and  soon  thereafter  commenced  his 
public  ministry,  propagating  his  pernicious  doc- 
trines among  his  own  countrymen  in  Arabia,  where 
the  heresy  spi"ead  with  incredible  rapidity,  gaining 
adherents  in  vast  multitudes.  The  people  were 
buried  in  profound  ignorance,  and  divided  into  a 
multitude  of  sects,  all  pagan  and  idolatrous.  When 
he  found  his  doctrine  almost  universally  received 
there,  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a  company 
of  thieves  and  fugitive  slaves,  who  fled  from  all 
parts  to  him,  allured  by  a  promise  he  had  given  of 
protecting  them,  and  by  a  law  he  had  taught  and 
published  that  it  was  the  zvill  and  command  of  God 
that  all  men  should  be  free.  By  the  help  of  these 
proselytes  he  assumed  a  sovereign  power,  and  de- 
clared himself  both  king  and  prophet  of  the  Sara- 
cens. 

"  Such  was  his  success,  that  with  these  feeble 
beginnings  he  subjected  all  Arabia,  and  having 
overcome  the  Persians  in  the  year  632,  seized  on 
the  government  also.  The  Saracens,  finding  them- 
selves masters  of  that  country,  made  incursions 
5* 


I06  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

into  Palestine.  Jerusalem  held  out  against  Aumar 
for  two  years  together,  but  surrendered  at  last  in 
the  year  637." 

In  Smith's  Dictionary,  article  "  Jerusalem,"  we 
are  told  "  the  patriarch  Sophronius  surrendered  to 
the  Khaliff  Omar  in  person,  A.  D.  637.  The  Kha- 
liff,  after  ratifying  the  terms  of  capitulation,  en- 
tered the  cit}^  and  was  met  at  the  gates  by  the 
patriarch.  Sophronius  received  him  with  the  un- 
courteous  exclamation,  '  Verily,  this  is  the  abom- 
ination of  desolation  spoken  of  by  Daniel  the 
prophet.'  " 

Now,  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  having  ascertained 
that  the  sanctuary  should  be  cleansed,  that  is  anti- 
christ overthrown  by  the  collapse  of  the  Roman 
hierarchy  in  the  year  1867,  our  design  now  is  to 
ascertain  also  w^hen  we  may  expect  a  like  catas- 
trophe to  the  Mahometan  sovereignty,  at  least  in 
the  Holy  Land.  And  learning  that  Jerusalem  fell 
a  prey  to  the  Saracens  in  the  year  637,  we  turn  to 
the  gospel  of  Luke,  chap.  21  and  24th  verse,  where 
we  find  our  Lord  informing  his  disciples  that  "  Jeru- 
salem shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles  until 
the  times  of  the  Gentiles  shall  be  fulfilled."  Hav- 
ing learned,  then,  that  Jerusalem  was  captured  by 
the  Saracens,  most  emphatically  "  Gentiles,"  in  the 
year  637,  and  having  also  been  informed  that  that 


THE  HOLY  CITY  TRODDEN  DOWN.  107 

city  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles  until 
the  times  of  the  Gentiles  shall  be  fulfilled,  we  in- 
quire again,  with  deep  interest,  if  there  be  in  all 
Scripture  any  clue  to  the  length  of  time  that  this 
subjection  shall  continue.  Pursuing  our  inquiry, 
we  turn  to  the  second  verse  of  the  eleventh  chapter 
of  the  Apocalypse,  where  the  revelator  gives  an 
answer  to  this  precise  question  :  "  The  Holy  City 
shall  be  trodden  under  foot  (of  the  Gentiles)  forty 
and  two  months,"  or  1260  prophetical  years.  We 
thus  learn,  in  the  most  concise  and  definite  terms, 
exactly  when  this  Mahometan  despotism  will  cease 
in  the  country  of  Palestine ;  that  is  to  say,  in  1260 
years  from  the  year  637—1897,  at  which  time  we 
may  anticipate,  with  great  confidence,  the  entire 
annihilation  of  the  Mahometan  power. 

To  pursue  this  inquiry  a  little  further,  the  "  Host" 
was  to  be  trodden  under  foot.  It  is  well  known 
that  "  Host"  is  used  by  way  of  abbreviation  for 
hostia,  a  victim  or  sacrifice  offered  to  the  Deity. 
"  In  this  sense  *  Host'  is  more  immediately  under- 
stood of  the  person  of  the  word  incarnate,  who  was 
offered  up  a  host,  or  hostia,  to  the  Father  on  the  cross, 
for  the  sins  of  mankind."  Without  intending  to  go 
into  any  elaborate  explication  of  this  matter,  we 
submit  that  the  desecration  of  the  Holy  City  and 
all  its  sacred  associations  and  surroundings,  and 


I08  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

the  contempt  with  which  Christ  and  his  doctrines 
and  followers  have  been  treated,  and  the  persecu- 
tions they  have  endured  from  the  Saracens  and  the 
Mahometans,  may  well  be  presumed  to  be  referred 
to  by  the  angel  when  he  spoke  of  the  "  Host"  being 
trodden  under  foot,  and  that  the  same  events  are 
foreshadowed  in  these  expressions  by  Daniel,  our 
Saviour  and  St.  John.  Adding  no  more  here,  oc- 
casion will  be  offered  to  refer  to  the  same  matter 
in  the  sequel. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE   SAME   SUBJECT   CONTINUED. 

WE  cannot  doubt  that  the  eleventh  chapter 
of  Daniel  is  almost  entirely  devoted  to  a 
foreshadowing  of  the  various  religious  wars  and 
revolutions  which  have  taken  place,  and  will  occur, 
between  the  first  taking  away  the  daily  sacrifice, 
and  the  setting  up  the  abomination  that  maketh 
desolate  in  the  year  607,  and  the  overthrow  of  Ma- 
hometanism ;  including  the  wars  of  the  crusades, 
and  the  frequent  and  desolating  incursions  of  the 
Mahometans  into  Europe.  But  it  does  not  fall 
within  the  scope  of  our  design  to  attempt  an  eluci- 
dation of  this  portion  of  the  prophecy,  or  to  use  it 
any  further  than  is  necessary  to  the  full  understand- 
ing of  our  theory. 

It  is  hardly  possible  for  any  one  to  doubt  that 
the  "  mighty  king"  described  in  the  third  verse  of 
this  chapter  is  the  same  with  the  "  he-goat"  in  the 

(109) 


no  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

fifth  verse  of  the  eighth  chapter ;  and  the  revela- 
tions in  the  fourth  and  fifth  verses  of  this  chapter 
point  to  the  same  transactions  with  those  from  the 
sixth  to  the  ninth  inclusive,  in  the  eighth  chapter. 
If  the  former  explication  of  those  verses  in  our 
eighth  chapter  be  correct,  then  here  the  eleventh 
chapter  introduces,  most  appropriately,  again  the 
Mahometan  power,  which  through  the  succeeding 
1260  years  was  to  exercise  so  marvellous  an  influ- 
ence upon  the  Christian  world,  and  especially  upon 
the  Holy  Land. 

"  And  a  mighty  king  shall  stand  up,  that  shall 
rule  with  great  dominion,  and  do  according  to  his 
will."  If  we  mistake  not,  this  refers  to  Chosroes, 
king  of  Persia,  in  his  earl}^  prosperity.  "  And  when 
he  shall  stand  up,  his  kingdom  shall  be  broken,  and 
shall  be  divided  toward  the  four  winds  of  heaven." 
After  he  had  become  the  terror  of  the  Christian 
world,  Heraclius,  the  emperor,  in  a  very  short  time 
utterly  demolished  him  and  his  kingdom.  "And 
not  to  his  posterity,  nor  according  to  his  dominion, 
which  he  ruled ;  for  his  kingdom  shall  be  plucked 
up,  even  for  others  besides  those."  We  have,  in  a 
former  chapter,  seen  how  completely  Chosroes' 
empire  was  subverted  and  "  divided  toward  the 
four  winds ;"  and  how  the  succession  passed  "  not 
to  his  posterity,"  "  nor  according  to  his  dominion, 


TEE  HOLT  CITY  TRODDEN  DOWN.  m 

which  he  ruled ;"  but  that  it  was  plucked  up  by 
Heraclius  and  afterwards  passed  under  the  domin- 
ion of  the  Arabian  caliphs.  Men  may  differ  in  their 
appreciation  of  these  matters;  but,  seemingly,  it 
must  impress  every  one  that  these  descriptions  in 
Daniel  are  almost  perfect  photographs  of  Chosroes 
and  the  subsequent  Saracenic  and  Mahometan 
caliphs.  Passing  over  the  intermediate  portions  of 
chapter  eleven,  which  seem  to  be  unmistakable 
descriptions  of  what  are  sometimes  denominated 
holy  wars,  or  the  wars  between  the  nominally  Chris- 
tian and  the  Mahometan  and  infidel  nations,  we 
proceed  to  a  consideration  of  the  last  verse  in 
the  chapter,  which  quite  as  unmistakably  refers 
to  the  Mahometan  power  in  possession  of  Pales- 
tine. 

"  And  he  shall  plant  the  tabernacle  of  his  palace 
between  the  seas,  in  the  glorious  holy  mountain ; 
yet  he  shall  come  to  his  end  and  none  shall  help 
him."  The  meaning  of  this  passage  appears  too 
plain  to  admit  of  any  elucidation.  The  chapter 
commences  with  a  brief  account  of  the  origin  of 
the  Mahometan  sway  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  in  the 
countries  adjacent;  and  after  recounting,  among 
other  things,  their  various  successes  and  defeats,  it 
ends  with  the  affirmation  that  this  power  was  at 
last  fully  established  in  that  land  ;  and  then  closes 


112  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

emphatically  with  the  statement  that  *' he  shall 
come  to  his  end  and  none  shall  help  him." 

Our  present  aim  is  to  prove  by  cumulative  evi- 
dence when  this  Mahometan  sway  shall  come  to  its 
end.  We  have  before  learned  from  Scripture  that 
the  Holy  City  shall  be  trodden  down  by  the  Gen- 
tiles 1260  years.  The  fact  is  also  affirmed  by  Dan- 
iel in  the  seventh  verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter. 
Now  it  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  eleventh 
chapter  is  devoted  mostly  if  not  altogether  to  those 
matters  in  which  the  Mahometan  power  was  chiefly 
concerned ;  and  that  it  begins  and  ends  with  refer- 
ence to  the  same  power.  Another  matter  is  then 
advanced,  which  we  shall  soon  discuss,  beginning 
at  that  same  period,  between  which  and  the  seventh 
verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter,  nothing  of  any  impor- 
tance is  revealed  affecting  time.  But  in  the  sixth 
verse,  some  one  inquires  of  an  angel,  "  How  long 
shall  it  be  to  the  end  of  these  wonders?"  The 
prophet  says :  "  I  heard  the  man  clothed  in  linen, 
when  he  held  up  his  right  hand  and  his  left  hand 
unto  heaven,  and  sware  by  Him  that  liveth  forever 
and  ever,  that  '  it  shall  be  for  a  time,  times  and  a 
half.' " 

Under  these  circumstances  it  cannot  be  believed 
that  this  period  of  1260  years  synchronizes  with 
the  same  period  mentioned  in  the  twenty-fifth  verse 


TEE  HOLT  CITY  TRODDEN  DOWN 


113 


of  the  seventh  chapter.  It  has  already  been  proved 
that  that  refers  to  the  time  during  which  the  saints 
were  dehvered  into  the  hand  and  held  by  the 
power  of  antichrist,  commencing  when  the  daily 
sacrifice  was  taken  away,  and  ending  at  the  cleans- 
ing of  the  sanctuary  in  1867.  But  this  in  the  twelfth 
chapter  as  clearly  refers  to  the  question  not  an- 
swered by  Palmoni  in  the  thirteenth  verse  of  the 
eighth  chapter :  "  How  long  shall  the  host  be  trod- 
den under  foot  ?"  The  question  in  the  sixth  verse 
of  the  twelfth  chapter  is  not  in  the  same  form,  but 
doubtless  refers  to  that,  as  well  as  to  other  matters, 
as  recorded  in  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  chap- 
ter: "How  long  shall  it  be  to  the  end  of  these 
wonders  ?"  Now  we  have  already  learned  from  pro- 
fane history,  that  Jerusalem  was  conquered  by  the 
Saracens  in  the  year  6^)^,  and  the  passages  quoted 
from  the  New  Testament,  as  well  as  this  now  under 
consideration,  prove  that  it  must  be  trodden  down 
of  the  Gentiles  1260  years,  which  will  end  in  1897. 
In  the  eleventh  verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter  we 
are  told  that  from  "  the  time  the  daily  sacrifice  shall 
be  taken  away,  and  the  abomination  that  maketh 
desolate  set  up,  there  shall  be  '  a  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  ninety  (days)  years.'  "  It  appears,  there- 
fore, that  from  the  time  when  Boniface  was  consti-\ 
tuted  Universal  Bishop,  and  Mahomet  concocted/ 


114  ^^^  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

his  heresy,  to  the  year  in  which  it  has  been  proved 
Jerusalem  will  have  been  trodden  down  of  the 
Gentiles  1260  years  ;  that  is,  from  the  year  607  to 
the  year  1897  is  the  time  mentioned  in  this  elev- 
enth verse,  namely  1290  years.  If  this  be  not 
the  true  exposition  of  this  passage,  the  coincidences 
are  certainly  most  remarkable. 

We  state,  then,  these  propositions,  which  seem 
to  be  most  clearly  proved. 

First,  The  saints  were  delivered  into  the  power 
of  antichrist  in  the  year  607,  and,  consequently,  will 
be  delivered  out  of  his  hands  by  his  overthrow  in 
1867.     And, 

Second,  The  Holy  Land,  and  especially  Jerusa- 
lem (the  "  Host"),  were  commenced  to  be  trodden 
imder  foot  of  the  Gentiles  in  637 ;  and,  conse- 
quently, will  be  delivered  from  their  oppression  in 
1897. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE   RESTORATION   OF   THE  JEWS. 

WE  will  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of 
some  other  events,  recorded  in  this  proph- 
ecy, of  the  most  stupendous  importance,  but  de- 
pending for  the  period  of  their  fulfillment,  not  upon 
any  specified  epoch ;  but  the  time  of  their  develop- 
ment being  in  each  case  a  corollary  or  sequence 
from  those  others  which  have  heretofore  been  con- 
sidered at  large. 

The  closing  paragraph  of  the  eleventh  chapter 
declares,  that  "  he  shall  plant  the  tabernacles  of 
his  palaces  between  the  seas,  in  the  glorious  holy 
mountain ;  yet  he  shall  come  to  his  end  and  none 
shall  help  him."  In  the  beginning  of  the  next 
(i2th)  chapter,  the  prophet  presents  in  the  most 
vivid  colors  the  scenes  which  are  immediately  to 
follow  the  overthrow  of  Mahometanism  and  speed- 
ily to  usher  in  the  millennium. 

("S) 


Il6  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

"  At  that  time,"  that  is  to  sa}-,  at  the  time  when 
the  Mahometan  power  in  Palestine  shall  come  to 
an  end,  "  at  that  time  shall  Michael  stand  up,  the 
great  prince,  which  standeth  for  the  children  of  thy 
people,  and  there  shall  be  a  time  of  trouble,  such 
as  never  was  since  there  was  a  nation,  even  to  that 
same  time.  And  at  that  time  thy  people  shall  be 
delivered,  every  one  that  shall  be  found  written  in 
the  book.  And  many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the 
dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting' 
life,  and  some  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt." 
These  four  or  five  distinct  propositions  are  not 
necessarily  coincident  in  time ;  but  follow  each, 
probably,  in  the  order  of  arrangement.  Truly,  to 
comprehend  their  momentous  import,  in  the  mind 
of  the  prophet,  we  must  place  ourselves  at  his 
stand-point.  Let  us  pause,  then,  here  a  moment  to 
contemplate  his  peculiar  and  soul-stirring  position. 

Himself  an  exile  from  his  country,  he  looks  for- 
ward, in  vision,  through  a  period  of  more  than  two 
thousand  years,  and  sees  Jerusalem,  the  Holy  City, 
the  place  beloved  beyond  all  others  by  all  Jews, 
whether  present  there  or  absent — he  sees  Jerusalem 
and  the  Holy  Land,  Palestine,  the  Land  of  Canaan, 
ages  before  promised  to  his  nation,  conquered  by 
a  ncAV  race  of  Pagans,  "  Gentiles,"  whose  very  exist- 
ence, as  a  people,  commenced  centuries  after  he 


RESTORATION  OF  TEE  JEWS. 


117 


saw  this  amazing  vision.  He  sees  this  new  power 
plant  his  tabernacles  and  erect  his  mosques  be- 
tween the  seas,  even  in  Jerusalem,  the  glorious  holy- 
mountain.  He  sees  this  resistless  power  enforce, 
by  fire  and  sword,  his  own  detestable  heresies,  for 
a  long  series  of  ages ;  but  having  before  given 
a  short  summary  of  intervening  events,  deems  it 
necessary  here  only  to  note  the  final  decline  and 
fall  of  that  power  by  which  the  beloved  land  had 
so  long  been  trodden  in  the  dust.  He  describes 
this  great  event  with  characteristic  and  chastened 
brevity,  but  extraordinary  power.  "  He  shall  come 
to  his  end  and  none  shall  help  him."  His  eye  now 
ranges  down  the  vista  of  time,  until  the  power  that 
conquered  and  desolated  the  Holy  City  has  fallen, 
never  to  rise  again.  But  another  event  of  equal, 
if  not  more  thrilling  interest,  now  flashes  upon  his 
vision,  apparently  without  any  lapse  of  intermedi- 
ate time,  after  the  destruction  of  Mahometanism. 
"At  that  time  shall  Michael  stand  up,  the  great 
prince,  which  standeth  for  the  children  of  thy  peo- 
ple," evidently  signifying  some  event  propitious  to 
the  rising  fortunes  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  these 
soul-stirring  spectacles  are  followed  immediately 
by  a  time  of  trouble  such  as  never  was  since  there 
was  a  nation,  even  to  that  same  time.  How  long 
this  period  would  continue,  he  was  not  here  told  ; 


Il8  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

but  it  is  quite  evident  that  it  must  last  for  a  se- 
ries of  years,  to  afford  room  for  the  fulfillment  of 
all  the  troubles  predicted.  And  then  follows  the 
announcement  which  must  have  been  most  trying 
to  the  faith  of  an  early  Hebrew,  as  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead  had  been  preached  to  them,  if  at  all,  in 
dubious  and  uncertain  terms  :  "  Many  of  them  that 
sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake,  some  to 
everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame  and  everlasting 
contempt."  And  then  follows  the  other  announce- 
ment— to  him,  of  all  others,  the  most  interesting — 
that  at  the  close  of  a  time,  times  and  half  a  time, 
1260  years,  from  the  same  epoch,  the  subjugation  of 
Jerusalem,  there  shall  be  an  end  to  the  dispersion 
of  God's  chosen  people,  and  all  the  stupendous 
events  in  the  future,  which  have  been  revealed  him, 
shall  be  accomplished. 

It  is  not  possible  for  our  imaginations  to  conceive 
of  the  glorious  ecstacy  of  the  prophet,  at  the  close 
of  these  marvellous  and  astounding  revelations. 
At  a  single  view  he  sees  his  own  people,  through 
successive  ages,  scattered  over  the  four  quarters  of 
the  world,  enduring  the  threatened  punishment  of 
God,  in  their  persecutions,  humiliations  and  suffer- 
ings unexampled  in  the  history  of  our  race ;  and 
then,  at  the  close,  he  sees  them  restored  to  their 
own  country,  and  exalted  in  the  favor  of  God  fai 


RESTORATION  OF  THE  JEWS.  119 

above  aught  that  they  experienced  in  the  most 
prosperous  periods  of  their  ancient  history.  We 
cannot  doubt  that  his  feehngs  of  excitement  and 
ccstacy  very  far  transcended  those  which  he  assures 
us  he  experienced  on  a  former  occasion,  not  half 
so  thrilling  as  the  present :  "  I,  Daniel,  fainted  and 
was  sick ;  and  I  was  astonished  at  the  vision  ;  I  set 
my  face  toward  the  ground  and  I  became  dumb." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE   SAME   SUBJECT   CONTINUED. 

IN  former  times  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  to 
the  Holy  Land  was  universally  believed,  and 
formed  a  theme  of  constant  public  prayer.  This 
custom  has  fallen  very  much  into  disuse  ;  not  be- 
cause the  subject  matter  has  become  less  interest- 
ing in  itself,  but  from  a  lessened  attention  to  it, 
growing  out  of  the  fact  that  so  many  anticipations, 
founded  upon  the  prophecies,  have  been  disap- 
pointed. For  this  reason  let  us  group  together  a 
few  paragraphs  touching  the  subject,  as  found  in 
the  Old  Testament.  In  Jeremiah,  the  23d  chapter 
and  7th  and  8th  verses  :  "  Behold,  the  days  come, 
saith  the  Lord,  that  they  shall  no  more  say.  The 
Lord  liveth,which  brought  up  the  children  of  Israel 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ;  but,  The  Lord  liveth, 
which  brought  up  and  which  led  the  seed  of  the 
house  of  Israel  out  of  the  north  country, and  from 
(120) 


RESTORATION  OF  THE  JEWS.  121 

all  countries  whither  I  had  driven  them,  and  they 
shall  dwell  in  their  own  land."  A  similar  passage 
is  found  in  Ezekiel,  36th  chapter  and  24th  verse  : 
"  For  I  will  take  you  from  among  the  heathen,  and 
gather  you  out  of  «// countries,  and  will  bring  you 
into  your  own  land."  In  the  21st  and  22d  verses 
of  the  37th  chapter,  we  are  told  :  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God,  Behold,  I  will  take  the  children  of  Israel 
from  among  the  heathen,  whither  they  be  gone,  and 
will  gather  them  on  every  side,  and  bring  them  into 
their  own  land  ;  and  I  will  make  them  one  nation 
in  the  land  upon  the  mountains  of  Israel ;  and  one 
king  shall  be  king  to  them  all ;  and  they  shall  no 
more  be  two  nations,  neither  shall  they  be  divided 
into  two  kingdoms  any  more  at  all."  In  the  3d  chap- 
ter of  Hosea,  the  4th  and  5th  verses,  we  are  in- 
formed that  "  the  children  of  Israel  shall  abide 
many  days  without  a  king,  and  without  a  prince, 
and  without  a  sacrifice,  and  without  an  image,  and 
without  an  ephod,  and  without  teraphim.  After- 
wards shall  the  children  of  Israel  return,  and  seek 
the  Lord  their  God,  and  David  their  king,  and  shall 
fear  the  Lord  and  his  goodness  in  the  latter  days." 
Now,  it  is  possible  that  some  will  say  that  all  these, 
and  numerous  other  prophecies  of  a  like  import, 
were  fulfilled' in  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  after 
the  Babylonian  captivity.  Without  spending  time 
6 


122  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

and  space  to  controvert  such  a  theory,  we  quote 
again  from  Amos,  9th  chapter  and  14th  and  15th 
verses  :  "  I  will  bring  again  the  captivity  of  my 
people  Israel,  and  they  shall  build  the  waste 
cities,  and  inhabit  them  ;  and  they  shall  plant  vine- 
yards and  drink  the  wine  thereof;  they  shall  also 
make  gardens  and  eat  the  fruit  of  them  ;  and  I  v/ill 
plant  them  upon  their  land  ;  and  ihcy  shall  no  more 
be  pulled  02it  of  tJicir  land  \\\\\c\\  I  have  given  them, 
saith  the  Lord  thy  God."  Whatever  may  be 
thought  of  other  passages  quoted,  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain that  this  cannot  apply  to  the  Jews  in  any  pe- 
riod of  their  past  history.  Their  present  disper- 
sion over  the  whole  world  is  sufficient  to  refute 
any  such  proposition.  Other  passages  appear  to 
be  quite  as  decisive  as  this,  as  in  the  37th  chapter 
of  Ezekiel,  23d,  24th,  25th  verses :  "  Neither  shall 
they  defile  themselves  any  more  with  idols,  nor 
with  their  detestable  things,  nor  with  an}^  of  their 
transgressions ;  but  I  will  save  them  out  of  all 
their  dwelling-places  wherein  they  have  sinned, 
and  will  cleanse  them  ;  so  shall  they  be  my  people 
and  I  will  be  their  God  :  and  David  my  servant  shall 
be  king  over  them  ;  and  they  shall  have  one  shep- 
herd, and  they  shall  dwell  in  the  land  that  I  have 
given  unto  Jacob  my  servant,  wherein  your  fathers 
have  dwelt ;  and  they  shall  dwell  therein,  even  they 


BESTORATION  OF   THE  JEWS.  123 

and  their  children  and  their  children's  children 
forever  ;  and  my  servant  Daviei  shall  be  their  prince 
forever.'"  There  seems  no  power  of  language,  and 
no  stretch  of  imagination,  which  can  make  this  de- 
scription agree  with  the  past  history  of  the  Jews. 

As  a  conclusion  to  these  extracts,  a  quotation 
from  Mr.  Whiston's  ''  Essay  on  the  Revelation  of 
Saint  John,"  will  be  very  apphcable  and  appropri- 
ate :  "  Upon  this  occasion  it  will  be  fit  to  set  down 
old  Tobit's  most  famous  prophecy,  or  rather  inter- 
pretation of  the  more  ancient  prophecies,  relating 
to  the  present  grand  dispersion  of  the  Jews,  and 
to  their  so  much  expected  restoration  ;  which  pro- 
phecies have  been  so  often  misunderstood  by  our 
late  Christian  commentators.  And  this  passage  is 
the  more  remarkable  because  of  its  great  antiquity, 
being  wi-itten  some  time  before  several  books  of 
the  Old  Testament ;  and  because,  in  the  vulgar 
Greek  cop3^  part  of  the  most  material  point  is 
omitted,  and  can  now  only  be  restored  from  a  most 
ancient  Hebrew  version  made  from  the  original 
Chaldee,  which  version  is  still  extant.  The  pas- 
sage is  this  :  "  As  to  our  brethren  the  Israelites 
who  dwell  at  Jerusalem,  they  shall  all  be  carried 
captive  and  Jerusalem  shall  be  laid  in  heaps  ;  and 
the  house  of  God  shall  be  desolate  for  a  small  time. 
Then  shall  the  children  of  Israel  ascend  and  re- 


124 


THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


build  the  city  and  the  temple  ;  but  not  according 
to  the  former  building.  And  there  shall  they  in- 
habit many  days,  until  an  age  be  completed.  And 
then  shall  they  depart  again  to  an  exceeding  great 
captivity.  But  there  also  shall  the  Holy  Blessed 
God  be  mindful  of  them,  and  shall  gather  them 
from  the  four  parts  of  the  world.  Then  shall  Jeru- 
salem the  Holy  City  be  restored  with  curious  and 
stately  building.  And  the  temple  also  shall  be 
magnificently  built,  never  to  be  destroyed  again 
forever  and  ever,  as  the  prophets  have  foretold. 
Then  shall  these  nations  be  converted  ;  they  shall 
worship  the  Lord,  and  shall  cast  away  the  im- 
ages of  their  gods ;  and  by  a  confessing  of  him 
shall  give  praises  to  his  great  name.  He  also 
shall  exalt  the  name  of  his  people  before  all  na- 
tions." 

If  it  be  conceded  that  the  Jews  will  be  restored 
to  their  own  land,  these  questions  present  them- 
selves for  our  further  consideration  ;  namely,  Will 
the  whole  of  those  who  claim  to  be  the  children 
of  Abraham,  now  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of 
heaven,  and  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  5,000,- 
000,  be  returned  to  the  land  of  their  ancestors  ?  Or, 
will  only  such  as  shall  be  converted  to  Christianity 
thus  be  restored  ?  And,  whichever  may  be  the  case, 
when  will  this  restoration  be  accomplished  ?     Rea- 


BESTOEATION  OF   THE  JEWS.  125 

soning  a  priori,  wc  should  say,  without  hesitation, 
that  none  could  be  returned  to  the  Holy  Land,  but 
such  as  shall  have  cast  off  the  Jewish  religion  and 
embraced  Christianity  ;  for  their  unbelief  in  a  cru- 
cified Saviour,  and  the  despite  they  have  done  him, 
have  undoubtedly  been  the  chief  causes  of  their 
dispersion.  Would  it,  then,  be  consistent  with 
divine  justice,  and  with  the  examples  of  God's 
treatment  of  sinners  in  all  ages,  to  so  severely  pun- 
ish the  Hebrew  race,  as  he  has  done,  for  near  two 
thousand  years,  for  a  sin,  and  then,  without  any 
repentance  for  that  sin,  now  remit  the  penalty  to 
those  who  are  certainly  equally  guilty  in  their  un- 
belief? It  may  be,  and,  indeed,  is,  quite  possible, 
that  the  whole  Hebrew  race  shall  repent  and  em- 
brace Christianity,  before  the  time  for  their  restora- 
tion shall  have  expired ;  though  such  a  universal 
repentance  is  not  in  accordance  with  our  frequent 
experience. 

In  support  of  this  view  of  the  case,  a  multitude 
of  passages  might  be  quoted  from  other  propheti- 
cal books  than  Daniel ;  a  few  will  suffice.  In  the 
thirty-second  chapter  of  Isaiah,  beginning  with  the 
thirteenth  verse  :  "  Upon  the  land  of  my  people 
shall  come  up  thorns  and  briers,"  "  because  the 
palaces  shall  be  forsaken,"  "  the  forts  and  towers 
shall  be  for  dens  forever,  a  joy  of  wild  asses,  a  pas- 


126  TUE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

turc  of  flocks,  //;////  the  Spirit  be  poured  out  tipon  us 
from  on  high!'  "  Then  judgment  shall  dwell  in  the 
wilderness  and  righteousness  remain  in  the  fruit- 
ful field.  And  the  work  of  righteousness  shall  be 
peace,  and  the  effect  of  righteousness  quietness  and 
assurance  forever.  And  my  people  shall  dwell  in  a 
peaceable  habitation,  and  in  sure  dwellings  and 
quiet  resting  places."  In  the  ninth  chapter  of  Jere- 
miah, the  sixteenth  verse,  it  is  said  :  "  I  will  scatter 
them  also  among  the  heathen,  whom  neither  they 
nor  their  fathers  have  known ;"  and  then  in  the 
twenty-third  chapter,  fifth  and  sixth  verses  :  "  Be- 
hold the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will 
raise  unto  David  a  righteous  Branch,  and  a  king 
shall  reign  and  prosper,  and  shall  execute  judg- 
ment and  justice  in  the  earth.  In  his  days  Judah 
shall  be  saved,  and  Israel  shall  dwell  safely,  and 
this  is  his  name,  whereby  he  shall  be  called.  The 
Lord  Our  Righteousness."  In  the  thirty -first 
chapter  of  Jeremiah,  tenth  and  eleventh  verses,  it 
is  written  :  "  He  that  scattereth  Israel,  will  gather 
him  and  keep  him  as  a  shepherd  doth  his  flock. 
For  the  Lord  hath  redeemed  Israel."  Verse  thirty- 
third  :  "  This  shall  be  the  covenant  I  will  make 
with  the  house  of  Israel,  After  those  days,  saith  the 
Lord,  I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward  parts,  and 
write  it  in  their  hearts  ;  and  will  be  their  God,  and 


RESTORATION  OF  TEE  JEWS.  127 

the)'  shall  be  my  people.  They  shall  all  Jcnoiv  mc 
from  the  least  unto  the  greatest,  saith  the  Lord  ;  for 
T  will  forgive  their  iniquity,  and  I  will  remember 
their  sin  no  more."  So,  too,  in  the  paragraph  be- 
fore quoted  from  Hosea,  third  chapter  and  fifth 
verse  :  "  Afterwards  shall  the  children  of  Israel  re- 
turn and  seek  the  Lord  their  God,  and  David,  their 
king ;  and  shall  fear  the  Lord  and  his  goodness,  in 
the  latter  days."  It  seems,  judging  from  these  and 
such  like  statements,  often  repeated,  that  either  all 
the  Jews  will  be  converted,  before  the  day  of  their 
return,  or  only  those  who  have  so  repented  and 
believed,  will  be  restored. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  analyze  carefully  the 
scope  and  meaning  of  the  paragraphs  relating  to 
this  matter  in  the  tv/elfth  chapter  of  Daniel ;  from 
which  we  shall  be  able  also,  probably,  to  throw 
some  additional  light  upon  the  question  just  pre- 
sented. The  first  statement  is  in  the  first  verse : 
''At  that  time,''  that  is,  simultaneously  or  immedi- 
ately after  the  overthrow  of  Mahometanism — ''At 
that  time  shall  Michael  stand  up,  the  great  prince 
which  standeth  for  the  children  of  my  people." 
This  plainly  imports  that  the  time  has  now  ar- 
rived, in  the  course  of  Providence,  when  some- 
thing favorable — some  happy  change  is  about  to 
be  meted  out  to  the  people  of  the  Jews.     In  the 


T28  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

close  of  the  same  verse,  we  are  further  informed 
that  "  at  that  time  thy  people  (that  is,  the  Jews,) 
shall  be  delivered,  every  one  that  shall  be  found 
written  in  the  book."  Taking  into  consideration 
all  the  prophecies  asserting  the  dispersion  of  that 
people  ;  their  sufferings  during  the  long  ages  of 
that  dispersion  ;  and  the  promises  of  their  final 
restoration,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  an- 
nouncement of  the  prophet,  relates  to  their  return, 
and  fixes  its  commencement  or  preparation  most 
inconfestably,  namely,  immediately  after  the  fall  of 
Mahometanism  in  Palestine,  which  has  been  shown 
will  occur  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1897.  The  last 
sentence  of  the  verse  seems  to  confirm  fully  the 
former  view  expressed,  of  the  restoration  only  of 
those  who  have  cast  off  Judaism  and  become  Chris- 
tians :  "  Every  one  that  shall  be  found  written  in 
the  book,"  namely,  all  such  as  shall  be  converted 
to  Christianity.  Here,  however,  it  will  be  observed 
that,  intermediate  in  this  verse,  between  the  clause 
in  which  it  is  affirmed  that  "at  that  time"  Michael 
shall  stand  up  for  the  Jews,  and  the  last  one,  "at 
that  time,"  thy  people  shall  be  delivered,  another 
clause  is  interposed,  as  follows  :  "  And  there  shall 
be  a  time  of  trouble  such  as  never  was,  since  there 
was  a  nation."  ''At  that  titne,''  in  the  commence- 
ment of  the  verse,  refers  undoubtedly  to  the  de- 


EESTOBATION  OF  THE  JEWS.  129 

struction  of  the  Mahometan  power  only ;  while  the 
use  of  the  same  phrase  at  the  close  of  the  verse,  as 
evidently  refers  to  the  whole  time  of  trouble,  which 
will  continue  for  a  number  of  years.  In  itself,  it  is 
of  small  consequence  whether  their  restoration  is 
accomplished  in  one  or  forty  years  ;  but  we  should 
presume,  a  priori,  that  the  transition  state  would 
occupy  a  considerable  time  ;  for  the  collection  of 
half  a  milhon  or  five  millions  of  people,  from  "the 
north  country  and  from  all  countries,"  and  their 
transportation  by  land  and  sea,  to  one  point,  would 
necessarily  extend  through  a  series  of  years.  This 
is,  however,  a  matter  upon  which  no  words  need 
be  wasted,  inasmuch  as  intrinsically  it  is  of  very 
little  importance  w^hen  viewed  in  the  light  of  their 
dispersion  through  so  many  ages. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   TWELFTH   CHAPTER   OF   DANIEL. 

TO  many,  and  probably  the  larger  part  of  those 
who  give  but  a  casual  attention  to  this  sub- 
ject, the  twelfth  chapter  of  Daniel  seems  a  con- 
fused, incongruous  and  unintelligible  mass  of  facts 
and  dates,  and  in  very  many  cases,  the  investiga- 
tion of  its  meaning  has  been  abandoned,  as  hope- 
lessly obscure.  But  there  is  no  portion  of  Revela- 
tion which  will  not  pay  for  a  diligent  and  careful 
research  ;  and  in  our  study  of  this  chapter,  al- 
though the  conclusions  reached,  may  be  very  much 
one  side  of  the  true  interpretation  of  the  predic- 
tions of  the  prophet,  nevertheless  they  may,  per- 
haps, be  of  some  use,  as  a  means  of  directing  the 
minds  of  other  enquirers  into  a  truer  path,  and 
thus,  at  some  future  time  of  eliciting  a  more  satis- 
factory explication  of  the  great  truths  embodied 
therein. 

We  have,  heretofore,  endeavored  to  prove,  by 
(130) 


THE   TWELFTH  CHAPTER   OF  DANIEL.       131 

argument,  founded  upon  specific  prophecies,  and 
if  our  premises  be  granted,  it  seems  we  have  logi- 
cally proved,  that  the  twin  delusions  of  Rome  and 
Mahomet  will  terminate,  so  far  as  the  supreme  and 
ruling  oppressive  power  is  concerned,  the  one  in 
1867,  and  the  other  in  1897.  And  this  great  event, 
so  far  as  the  Mahometan  domination  over  Palestine 
and  the  Holy  City  is  concerned,  was  expressly  af- 
firmed in  the  last  verse  of  the  eleventh  chapter: 
"  He  shall  come  to  his  end,  and  none  shall  help 
him." 

It  will  be  observed,  however,  that  although  we 
have  established  the  fact  that  this  will  occur  in 
1897,  the  prophecies,  on  which  this  date  is  fixed, 
are  not  found  in  Daniel,  so  far  as  our  investigations 
have  yet  gone,  but  upon  the  declaration  of  Christ 
and  of  Saint  John  in  the  Apocalypse.  Laying 
aside  for  the  present  all  reference  to  them,  we  now 
propose  to  confine  our  enquiry,  as  to  time,  to  this 
prophecy  of  Daniel,  barely  calling  in  the  aid  of  a 
single  fact  of  profane  history. 

In  the  first  two  verses  of  the  twelfth  chapter  we 
find  a  collection  of  most  wonderful  events  foretold, 
all  depending,  in  no  small  degree,  upon  the  fact 
expressed  in  the  last  verse  of  the  eleventh  chapter, 
for  their  respective  times  of  accomplishment ;  and 
now  here  a  question  of  great  interest  arises,  whcth- 


132 


THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


cr  it  be  possible,  by  aii}^  fair  course  of  argument, 
to  fix  with  precision  the  several  dates  of  the  mo- 
mentous events  foreshown  in  this  last  chapter. 
Claiming  no  infallibility,  we  only  desire  a  fair  con- 
sideration of  the  positions  we  take  in  carrying  out 
to  their  just  conclusions,  our  theory  of  Daniel's 
prophecy. 

We  begin  then  with  the  year  607  and  637,  as  two 
fixed  epochs,  from  which  we  are  to  make  our  de- 
ductions and  reasonings  of  all  the  periods  men- 
tioned in  this  chapter,  namely,  the  year  607,  that 
in  which  the  sanctuary  was  desecrated  and  the 
abomination  of  desolation  set  up,  and  637,  that  in 
which  the  Host — the  Holy  City  was  first  trod- 
den under  foot  of  the  gentiles.  And  here,  for  the 
clearer  illustration  of  the  events  recorded,  we  take 
occasion  to  submit  a  fact,  which  the  course  of  our 
previous  investigations  has  not  rendered  it  neces- 
sary for  us  particularly  to  consider.  It  has  often 
been  claimed,  by  those  who  have  written  upon  the 
subject,  that  Mahomet  commenced  the  propagation 
of  his  heresy  in  the  year  606,  It  doubtless  occurred 
at  or  about  that  time.  He  was  born  in  569.  Ac- 
cording to  some  authorities  572.  And  historians 
inform  us  that  he  begun  his  public  ministry  in  the 
fortieth  year  of  his  age,  and  it  may  be  presumed 
that  his  system  was  inaugurated  not  long  before 


TEE   TWELFTH  CHAP  TEE   OF  DANIEL. 


133 


the  year  608.  Without  therefore  pretending  to  fix 
the  date  of  the  birth  of  that  pernicious  heres)^  with 
historical  exactness,  we  may  assume  with  as  much 
confidence  as  properly  belongs  to  the  subject,  that 
this  occurred  in  the  year  607  or  608,  or  the  same 
year  that  the  Bishop  of  Rome  was  created  by  Pho- 
cas  Sovereign  Pontiff:  If  this  were  so,  the  dupli- 
cated questions,  as  stated  in  the  thirteenth  verse  of 
the  eighth  chapter,  were  with  very  great  propriety 
placed  in  such  juxtaposition  ;  for  the  two  great 
matters  about  which  the  enquiries  were  made, 
namely,  the  desecration  of  the  sanctuary  and  the 
setting  up  of  the  transgression  of  desolation,  would 
have  had  their  origin  cotemporaneously.  The  ques- 
tions were  :  "  How  long  shall  be  the  vision  con- 
cerning first,  the  daily  sacrifice,  and  second,  the 
transgression  of  desolation,  to  give  both,  first,  the 
sanctuary,  and  second,  the  Host,  to  be  trodden 
under  foot."  Now,  if  our  view  of  these  questions 
be  correct,  it  will  be  seen  at  once,  that  one  answer 
would  not  meet  both  questions  ;  for  the  sanctuary 
must  be  cleansed,  a  considerable  time  before  the 
Host  ceases  to  be  trodden  under  foot.  And  so 
Palmoni  expressly  limits  his  answer  to  the  first 
question  —  Two  thousand  (four)  hundred  (years), 
then  shall  the  sanctuary  be  cleansed — thus  leaving 
the  other  question  unanswered. 


134  ^'liE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

Passing  now  again  over  to  the  twelfth  chapter, 
"  At  that  time,"  with  which  the  first  verse  begins, 
is  fixed  and  known  the  moment  we  can  ascertain 
when  the  power  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter shall  come  to  his  end.  We  now  pass  on  to  the 
question  proposed  in  the  sixth  verse  of  the  twelfth 
chapter.  "  How  long  shall  it  be  to  the  end  of  these 
wonders?"  Before  this  question  was  put,  a  great 
variety  of  intensely  interesting  matter  had  been 
disclosed  to  the  amazed  vision  of  the  prophet ;  and 
it  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  things  recorded 
in  the  eleventh  as  well  as  the  twelfth  chapters,  were 
all  manifested  to  him  in  one  and  the  same  vision. 
In  this  vision  he  had  first  been  enlightened  as  to 
the  domination  of  the  Mahometans  over  the  Holy 
Land,  through  the  whole  period  of  that  domination 
to  its  close,  and  this  comprises  the  whole  of  the 
eleventh  chapter ;  he  then  goes  on  in  the  twelfth 
chapter,  the  first  two  verses,  with  the  briefest  possi- 
ble statement  of  the  other  wonderful  events  to  oc- 
cur thereafter.  At  this  point  of  time  the  question 
is  asked  :  "  How  long  shall  it  be  to  the  end  of  these 
wonders?"  We  remark  here,  that,  in  this  case,  as 
in  the  thirteenth  verse  of  the  eighth  chapter,  it  was 
impossible  for  one  answer  to  meet  the  whole  ques- 
tion, because  matters  were  covered  by  the  question 
which  would  end  at  different  times.     Such  being 


THE  TWELFTH  CHAPTER   OF  DANIEL.       135 

the  case,  we  inquire,  to  which  of  these  times  would 
the  angel  naturally  give  his  first  answer?  Cer- 
tainly to  the  matter  first  presented  to  the  prophet 
in  this  vision — that  is  the  matter  contained  in  the 
eleventh  chapter.  To  this  we  add,  that  it  was  im- 
possible that  he  should  answer  in  any  other  way  ; 
for  the  very  revelation  itself  shows  that  the  last 
verse  of  the  eleventh  chapter  closed  up  one  series 
of  revelations ;  while  the  first  verse  of  the  twelfth 
chapter  as  plainly  commenced  another  series.  A 
single  answer,  therefore,  carrying  the  time  down 
to  the  conclusion  of  the  last  series,  would,  at  least, 
greatly  mislead  the  inquirer.  Another  considera- 
tion certainly  fixes  it  upon  the  first  series ;  for  the 
other  answer,  which  we  shall  soon  consider,  uses  a 
negative  pregnant  of  unanswerable  force. 

We  therefore  find  the  answer  given  in  perfect 
consistency  with  this  hypothesis.  "  I  heard  the 
man  clothed  in  linen,  which  was  upon  the  waters 
of  the  river,  when  he  held  up  his  right  hand  and 
his  left  hand  unto  heaven,  and  sware  by  Him  that 
liveth  forever  and  ever,  that  it  shall  be  for  a  time, 
times  and  a  half."  It  will  be  observed  that  to  this 
period  of  1260  years,  there  is  givxn  neither  begin- 
ning nor  ending,  which,  upon  any  other  presump- 
tion than  that  we  have  made,  would  amount  to  no 
answer  at  all ;  but  upon  our  theory  it  is  perfectly 


136  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

complete,  for  it  declares  that  the  Mahometan  dom- 
ination shall  continue  over  the  Holy  Land  for  a 
time,  times  and  a  half;  precisely  coinciding  also 
with  the  declaration  in  the  second  verse  of  the 
eleventh  chapter  of  the  Revelations,  "  The  Holy 
City  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles  forty- 
and-two  months;"  in  both  cases,  1260  years. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  first  answer  of  the 
angel,  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  confidence  in 
the  correctness  of  our  interpretation,  we  proceed 
to  the  consideration  of  the  other  answer  to  the 
same  question.  Any  one  carefully  studying  the 
text,  will  perceive  that  although  there  are  several 
matters  proposed  and  unfolded  to  Daniel  in  this 
vision,  yet  they  are  all  divisible,  as  to  time,  into 
two  parts,  and  only  two,  the  first  coming  down  to 
the  end  of  the  eleventh  chapter;  the  other  com- 
prehending all  the  rest.  Having  answered  the  first 
so  distinctl)'',  as  we  have  before  shown,  the  angel 
now,  with  equal  perspicuousness,  though  without 
fixing  the  exact  date,  replies  to  the  other  branch 
of  the  question.  Indeed,  although  no  date  be  spe- 
cifically stated,  yet  inferentially  the  time  is  fixed 
with  perfect  exactness.  "  W/icii  he  shall  have  accom- 
plished to  scatter  the  power  of  the  Holy  people,  all 
these  things  shall  be  finished."  Upon  this  we  first 
remark,  that  the  phrase  "  Holy  people,"  does  not 


THE   TWELFTH  CHAPTER   OF  DANIEL.       137 

mean  a  people  free  from  sin,  but  that  nation  which 
has  long  been  distinguished  as  the  chosen  people 
of  God ;  and  again,  that  there  can  be  no  possible 
doubt  that  the  man  clothed  in  linen  intended  to 
divide  the  time  into  two  portions  ;  the  "  time,  times 
and  a  half,"  comprising  one,  and  all  subsequent  to 
that  constituting  the  other  portion.  The  matters 
developed  in  the  same  "  time,  times  and  a  half," 
forming  one  class ;  and  all  the  other  matters  dis- 
closed forming  the  other  class.  First,  there  shall 
be  a  ''time,  times,  and  a  half."  And  then,  after 
that,  ^' when''  he  shall  have  accomplished  his  own 
purposes  in  scattering  his  chosen  people,  "«// these 
things  shall  be  finished  ;"  and  this  is  in  perfect  con- 
sistency with  the  revelations  in  the  former  part  of 
the  chapter.  With  the  eleventh  chapter  ends  all 
disclosures  in  relation  to  the  subjects  therein  dis- 
cussed ;  with  the  twelfth,  new  matters  are  proposed  ; 
first,  the  standing  up  of  Michael  "  for  the  children 
of  thy  people."  Second,  the  time  of  trouble  such 
as  never  was  since  there  was  a  nation.  And  then, 
as  the  last  act  in  this  most  amazing  drama,  "  Thy 
people  shall  be  delivered."  It  is  true,  another 
scene  of  overwhelming  interest  follows  this  in  the 
text ;  "  Many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the 
earth  shall  awake  ;"  but  in  point  of  fact  it  is  evident 
that  this  is  concurrent  with  the  final  closing  up  of 


138  TUE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

the  restoration  of  the  Jews.  We  are  thus  apprised, 
with  a  surprising  degree  of  positiveness  and  cer- 
tainty, that  the  moment  that  this  great  event  shall 
have  been  accomplished,  to  wit,  the  final  restora- 
fion  of  the  Jews,  all  the  other  events  foretold  by 
Daniel  shall  be  finished.  Another  event  is  fore- 
told of  not  less  thrilling  interest  than  either  of  the 
preceding,  but  which  it  was  not  necessary  for  us 
before  to  notice :  At  that  time,  cotemporaneously 
with  the  close  of  all  these  soul -stirring  events, 
Daniel  was  further  informed  that  "  they  that  be 
wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament ; 
and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness,  as  the 
stars  forever  and  ever."  The  commencement  of 
this  period  of  happiness  for  the  blessed  and  chosen 
would  be  the  exact  time  when  "  many  of  them  that 
sleep  in  the  dust  shall  awake." 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

1290  AND    1335    YEARS. 

BUT  it  is  apparent  from  what  has  been  said, 
that  up  to  the  present  time,  nothing  has  been 
disclosed  by  the  angel  or  shown  by  our  argument, 
fixing  the  day  and  year  when  "  all  these  things  shall 
be  finished."  We  know,  to  be  sure,  that  they  will 
be  accomplished  concurrently  with  another  event ; 
but,  so  far,  we  have  had  no  express  revelation  by 
Daniel,  disclosing  in  what  year  of  our  present  era 
these  events  shall  be  finished. 

At  this  point  we  are  told  by  Daniel,  that  he 
heard  but  understood  not.  "  Then,  said  I,  O  my 
Lord,  what  shall  be  the  end  of  these  things  ?"  He 
is  now  addressed  by  the  angel :  "  Go  thy  way,  Dan- 
iel, for  the  words  are  closed  up,  and  sealed  till  the 
time  of  the  end."  But  although  he  thus  assured 
Daniel  that  all  future  prophecy  on  these  matters 
was  scaled  up,  he  nevertheless  did  not  withhold 
some  further  information    in   answer  to   this   last 

(139) 


140 


TUE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


question  ;  not  a  new  or  further  prophecy,  but  a  few 
words  by  way  of  explanation  of  what  had  gone 
before  ;  that  is  to  say,  he  makes  his  two  answers  to 
the  former  questions  more  intclHgible. 

The  former  answer  to  the  first  matter  suggested 
was  given,  without  specifying  either  beginning  or 
ending,  a  "  time,  times  and  a  half."  Now,  in  giving 
further  information,  he  is  precise  and  specific,  both 
as  to  beginning  and  ending,  and  to  furnish  corrob- 
orative proof,  and  at  the  same  time  leave  no  doubt 
of  his  meaning,  he  goes  back  to  a  fixed  and  per- 
fectly well  understood  epoch,  as  before  presented 
in  the  eighth  chapter,  and  makes  that  his  starting 
point,  and  not  the  time  when  Jerusalem  surren- 
dered to  Aumar,  which  was  the  time  referred  to  in 
his  first  answer,  as  well  as  by  John  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse. He  now  answers  again  :  "  From  the  time 
that  the  daily  sacrifice  shall  be  taken  away,  and  the 
abomination  that  maketh  desolate  set  up."  The 
first  of  these  has  already  been  proved  to  be  the  sur- 
render of  the  whole  Christian  church  to  the  des- 
potic government  of  one  man,  Boniface,  and  his  suc- 
cessors ;  and  as  to  the  last,  if  our  postulate  be  well 
;  founded,  that  the  heresy  of  Mahomet,  namely,  was 
1  inaugurated  in  the  year  607,  then  certainly  this 
\ abomination  of  desolation  was  set  up,  in  the  same 
year,  and  this  coupling  them  together,  would  be 


1290  xiND   1335    YEARS. 


141 


perfectly  in  accordance  with  the  fact.  '*  From  the 
time  that  the  daily  sacrifice  was  taken  away,"  (the 
supremacy  of  Boniface,  607,)  "  and  the  abomination 
that  maketh  desolate  set  up,"  (the  inception  of  Ma- 
hometanism,  also  in  607,)  "  there  shall  be  a  thousand 
two  hundred  and  ninety  "  years.  This  seems  to 
refer  to  the  same  matter  in  the  first  answer,  before 
given,  namely,  the  term  and  fall  of  the  Mahometan 
power  in  the  Holy  Land  ;  both  should  therefore 
terminate  at  the  same  time,  and  if  they  do,  it  would 
afford  no  slight  presumption  that  they  are  both 
right.  According  to  our  former  argument, ,  the 
"  time,  times  and  a  half,"  1260  years  from  the  sub- 
jection of  Jerusalem,  should  end  in  the  year  1897; 
so  now  here,  too,  1290  years  from  the  year  607,  the 
time  the  daily  sacrifice  was  taken  away,  and  the 
abomination  of  desolation  set  up,  will  end  in  the 
same  year. 

It  is  not  at  all  probable  that  from,  or  in  a  state  of 
prosperity  and  power,  this  great  empire  of  the 
Turks  will  be  crushed  in  a  day.  Empires,  like  liv- 
ing beings,  have  their  birth  and  growth  and  decay. 
Setting  aside  exceptional  cases,  the  period  of  the 
decay  of  nations  runs  through  a  series  of  years ; 
they  consume,  waste  away,  and  are  destroyed.  In 
this  case,  it  cannot  be  presumed  that  the  great  em- 
pire of  Turkey  will  pass  from  a  condition  of  power 


142 


THE   TIMES   OF  DAXIEL. 


and  prosperity  to  utter  annihilation  in  a  single 
year.  We  may  rather  expect  that  the  Euphrates 
will  dry  up,  will  disappear  after  a  season  of  years 
of  decadence.  In  this  case,  we  may  well  presume 
that  much  of  this  process  of  decay  will  precede, 
rather  than  succeed  the  designated  period. 

A  peculiarity  of  Daniel  in  communicating  his 
facts  is  worthy  of  notice.  In  the  seventh  chapter, 
he  informs  us  that  the  saints  should  be  delivered 
into  the  hands  of  the  little  horn,  "  for  a  time,  times 
and  the  dividing  of  time,"  thereby  indicating  that 
the.  Church  should  be  subjected  to  the  Roman 
tyranny  for  a  period  of  1260  years;  but  he  here 
gives  neither  the  time  of  beginning  nor  ending. 
But  in  the  next  chapter  he  declares  that  the  sanc- 
tuary shall  be  cleansed  in  2400  years,  from  the  time 
of  his  then  present  speaking,  and  then  afterwards 
adds  twenty-one  years ;  thus  fixing  the  time  at 
which  the  subjection  of  the  saints  shall  cease,  with 
perfect  exactness,  namely  the  year  1867. 

Precisely  parallel  with  this  is  his  mode  of  instruc- 
tion, as  to  the  domination  of  Mahometanism,  in  the 
twelfth  chapter.  In  the  seventh  verse  he  informs 
us  that  "  it  will  be  for  a  time,  times  and  a  half,"  giv- 
ing no  indications  when  it  will  commence,  or  when 
it  will  end.  But  precisely  as  before,  he  afterwards 
shows  by  a  different  statement  of  the  same  facts, 


1290   .l^VD    1335    YEARS. 


143 


exactly  when  this  "  time,  times  and  a  half"  will  end, 
namely,  in  1290  years  after  the  daily  sacrifice  shall 
be  taken  away,  and  the  transgression  of  desolation 
set  up.  There  certainly  is  a  very  remarkable  par- 
allelism between  the  two  cases. 

A  similar  mode  of  presenting  the  fact  is  observed 
also  in  the  other  great  disclosure  of  time.  When  he 
first  gives  an  account  of  the  closing  up  of  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation,  in  the  seventh  verse  of  the  twelfth 
chapter,  he  leaves  the  date  entirely  unexplained, 
except  by  reference  to  the  accomplishment  of  an- 
other event :  "  W/icn  he  shall  have  accomplished 
to  scatter  the  power  of  the  holy  people,  all  these 
things  shall  be  finished."  Although  here  the  fact 
be  affirmed  with  undoubted  certainty,  and  the  time 
will  ultimately  be  certainly  known,  yet  relying  upon 
this  prediction  alone,  it  could  not  be  known  until 
the  day  of  its  fulfillment.  But  following  this  up, 
as  he  did  in  the  other  cases,  he  informs  us  in  the 
following  paragraph  of  the  exact  time  when  it  shall 
be  fulfilled.  It  is  true,  this  time  could  not  have 
been  known  to  Daniel  and  students  of  his  age,  nor 
of  any  age,  until  Phocas'  decree,  except  by  a  pro- 
cess of  argument  and  reasoning  scarcely  to  have 
been  expected  ;  yet  to  those  who  have  lived  since, 
it  might  have  been  known  with  great  confidence, 
at  any  period  of  time. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

TWELFTH   CHAPTER,   TWELFTH   VERSE. 

TO  the  first  question,  "  How  long  shall  it  be  to 
the  end  of  these  wonders  ?"  the  man  clothed 
in  linen,  which  was  upon  the  waters  of  the  river, 
had  given  two  answers,  neither  of  which,  however, 
would  enable  one  standing  in  Daniel's  position  to 
fix  any  definite  date. 

To  the  second  question,  "What  shall  be  the  end  of 
these  things  ?"  he  has  already  given  the  further  and 
needed  information,  explanatory  of  the  first  answer 
to  the  first  question.  The  second  answer  to  the  first 
question  was,  "  W/icn  he  shall  have  accomplished  to 
scatter  the  power  of  the  holy  people, «// these  things 
shall  be  finished."  He  is  now  about  to  elucidate 
again  this  answer  in  the  I2th  verse,  which  he  does 
by  declaring,  "Blessed  is  he  that  waiteth  and  cometh 
to  the  thousand  three  hundred  and  five  and  thirty  " 
years.     This  is  unquestionably  intended  as  supple- 

{'44) 


TWELFTH   CHAPTER,    TWELFTH   VEIiSE.      145 

mentary  to  the  second  answer  to  the  first  question, 
and  to  shed  further  hght  on  the  subject  of  that 
answer.  The  man  clothed  in  linen,  under  the  sol- 
emn oath  he  had  taken,  commenced  the  first  of 
these  two  answers,  by  giving  a  stand-point  from 
which  to  make  his  computation  of  the  duration  of 
the  period  now  under  investigation,  "  from  the  time 
the  daily  sacrifice  shall  be  taken  away,  and  the 
abomination  that  maketh  desolate  set  up,"  from 
which  epoch  he  had  already  made  his  first  reckon- 
ing of  "  a  thousan^  two  hundred  and  ninety  "  years. 
He  then  proceeds  in  such  terms  as  to  leave  no 
room  for  doubt,  that  in  his  next  reckoning  he  dates 
from  the  same  epoch  ;  so  that  if  the  sentence  were 
made  full  and  complete,  without  reference  to  the 
former  answer,  it  would  read,  '*  Blessed  is  he  that 
waiteth  and  cometh  to  the  thousand  three  hundred 
and  five  and  thirty  "  years,  from  the  time  when  the 
daily  sacrifice  shall  be  taken  away,  and  the  abom- 
ination that  maketh  desolate  set  up  ;  thus  giving 
us  just  as  distinct  a  perception  of  the  time  to  this 
blessed  period,  as  had  already  been  given  of  the 
time  of  the  overthrow  of  Mahometanism  in  the 
Holy  Land.  If  this  view  of  the  case  be  correct, 
then  we  have  a  flood  of  light  poured  upon  the  other 
parts  of  this  chapter  ;  for  it  will  present  this  aspect : 
We  are  informed,  first,  that  there  shall  be  a  time 
7 


146  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

of  unspeakable  trouble  ;  next,  that  "  at  that  time  " 
the  people  of  the  Jews  will  be  delivered.  We  are 
then  told  that  when  this  great  event,  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Jews,  shall  be  accomplished,  all  these 
things  foretold  by  Daniel  "  shall  be  finished."  And 
now  in  this  12th  verse  we  are  further  informed,  by 
the  man  clothed  in  linen,  upon  the  waters  of  the 
river,  under  the  obligation  of  a  most  solemn  oath, 
that  there  will  be  a  blessed  time  —  undoubtedly, 
taking  all  these  predictions  together,  referring  to 
the  very  same  event — there  will, be  a  blessed  time 
i"  1335  years,  after  the  daily  sacrifice  shall  be  taken 
away,  and  the  abomination  that  maketh  desolate 
shall  be  set  up,  which  we  have  shown,  will  be  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1942. 

We  have  now  reached  that  point  of  our  argu- 
ment where  we  can  make  our  computations  of  each 
several  time  expressed  or  implied. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  Mahometan,  who  has 
planted  the  tabernacle  of  his  palace  between  the 
seas,  in  the  glorious  holy  mountain,  "  shall  come  to 
his  end"  in  the  year  1897.  Daniel  w^as  tlien  in- 
formed that  "  Michael  shall  stand  up  for  the  chil- 
dren of  thy  people ;"  and  next,  and  immediately 
coincident  with  that,  "  there  shall  be  a  time  of 
trouble,"  and  this  time  of  trouble  will  continue 
until  the  same  people  sliall  be  delivered,  which  we 


TWELFTH  Cn AFTER,    TWELFTU   VERSE.     147 

have  shown,  will  be  in  the  year  1942.  Hence  the 
inference  is  irresistible,  that  the  time  from  the  com- 
mencement to  the  end  of  the  restoration  will  con- 
sume forty -five  years ;  and  the  time  of  trouble  will 
have  precisely  the  same  coincident  duration ;  and 
during  which,  or  more  probably  at  the  close  of  this 
momentous  era,  "■  many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the 
dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting 
life,  and  some  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt." 

It  would  appear  probable,  judging  from  the  phra- 
seology above,  that  this  is  not  the  general  resurrec- 
tion ;  for  not  all,  but  many,  shall  awake,  thus  impl}"- 
ing  that  there  are  others  who  will  not  now  awake. 

With  a  slight  variation,  which  may  be  OAving  to 
some  error  in  the  translation,  this  seems  to  agree 
perfectly  with  the  prediction,  on  the  same  theme, 
in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  where 
the  first  resurrection  is  distinctly  announced,  while 
we  have  the  assurance  that  the  rest  of  the  dead 
lived  not  again,  "  until  the  thousand  years  were 
finished,"  or  until  the  close  of  the  millennium. 

The  scope  of  our  argument  does  not  allow  of 
any  protracted  comment  upon  the  subject  of  the 
second  resurrection ;  this  lies  altogether  beyond 
what  is  called  the  Christian  dispensation,  at  least 
so  far  as  the  revelation  of  Daniel  extends,  and,  con- 
sequently, altogether  beyond  our  assigned  limits. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE   CLOSE   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   DISPENSATION. 

AS  Daniel  probably  comprehended  the  true 
meaning  of  these  prophecies,  when  their  lan- 
guage was  merely  repeated  to  him,  no  better  than 
we  should  have  done  at  that  distant  period,  he  says, 
that  on  hearing  these  solemn  announcements,  he 
understood  not,  and  then  exclaimed :  "  Oh !  my 
Lord,  what  shall  be  the  end  of  these  things?"  As 
the  previous  questions  put  by  the  prophet,  or 
which  he  heard,  differed  essentially  from  each  oth- 
er, so  this  one  is  entirely  different,  in  substance, 
from  any  of  the  others.  For  while  the  others  re- 
lated almost  exclusively  to  time,  this,  on  its  face, 
made  no  allusion  to  time.  "  What  sliall  be  the  end 
of  these  things?"  comprises  very  much  more  than 
they ;  as  not  only  time,  but  the  closing  scenes  of 
all  the  amazing  revelations  unfolded  to  him,  in 
vision,  down  to  the  end  of  the  Christian  dispensa- 
(148) 


CLOSE   OF   CHRISTIAN  DISPENSATION. 


149 


tion,  arc  comprehended  in  this  last  question.  He 
is  now  informed  that  his  position,  or  character,  as 
the  prophet  of  God,  ceases,  and  that  no  further 
vision  will  appear  to  him,  "  The  words  are  closed 
up,  and  sealed  till  the  time  of  the  end."  There  will 
be  no  new  prophecy,  on  the  matters  which  have 
been  committed  to  Daniel,  until  their  final  accom- 
plishment. The  angel  nevertheless  answers  the 
prophet's  question,  before  closing  up  the  words,  by 
giving  him  the  assurance  that  from  the  time  the 
daily  sacrifice  shall  be  taken  away  and  the  abom- 
ination that  maketh  desolate  set  up,  there  shall 
be  "  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety  (days) 
years."  We  remark  here,  that  in  this  and  the 
next  verse  he  is  giving  to  Daniel  a  summary,  in 
few  words,  of  all  that  has  been  communicated  to 
him,  through  successive  years,  and  in  a  variety  of 
visions,  all  culminating  in  the  same  point,  the  final 
consummation  of  time,  as  connected  with  our  pres- 
ent dispensation.  And  as,  after  the  announcement 
of  our  Savior,  the  delivery  of  the  saints  into  the 
hand  of  the  antichristian  power  was  the  beginning 
of  this  series  of  prophecies,  he  takes  that  as  his 
epoch  from  which  he  computes  all  these  subse- 
quent events.  We  now  approach  the  last  and,  to 
all  Christians,  the  most  interesting,  but  most  diffi- 
cult to  explain,  of  all  the  terms  of  years  presented 


150  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

for  our  contemplaticjii  in  this  most  wonderful  rev- 
elation of  Daniel.     "  Blessed  is  he  that  waiteth  and 
Cometh  to  the  thousand    three    hundred  and  hve 
and  thirty  (days)  years."      This   period    undoubt- 
edly commences  at  the  same  time  as  the  last,  and 
will  consequently  end  forty-five  years  after  that, 
or,  as  a  corollaiy  from  our  former  argument,  in  the 
year  1942.      It  will  be  observed  that  the  solemn 
oath  of  the  angel  extends  down  to  the  announce- 
ment of  the  "blessed"  period;  or  the  end  of  the 
time  of  our  present  dispensation.     This  calls  forci- 
bly to  our  recollection  a  similar  oath  and  parallel 
passage  recorded  in  the  Revelation,  prescribing  ex- 
actly the  same  result.     In  the  tenth  chapter:  "  The 
angel  which  I  saw  stand  upon  the  sea  and  upon 
the  earth,  lifted  up  his  hand  to  heaven,  and  sware 
by  him  that  liveth  forever  and  ever,  who  created 
heaven  and  the  things  that  therein  are ;  and  the 
earth  and  tjie  things  that  therein  are ;  and  the  sea 
and  the  things  that  arc  therein,  that  there  should 
be  time  no  longer.     But  in  the  days  of  the  voice 
of  the  seventh  angel,  when  he  shall  begin  to  sound, 
the  mystery  of  God  shall  be   finished,  as  he  hath 
declared  to  his  servants  the  prophets." 

In  all  the  other  cases  of  prescribed  terms  of 
time,  some  great  event  is  foretold  or  recognized  ; 
but  here  we  arc  simply  informed  that  he  is  "  bless- 


CLOSE   OF  CHRISTIAN  DISPENSATION.       151 

ed"  who  Cometh  to  the  end  of  the  prescribed  time. 
We  may  therefore,  with  much  confidence,  conchide 
that  the  termination  of  this  period  will  usher  in  the 
morning  of  the  millennium.  It  now  appears  that 
the  lapse  of  time  between  the  commencement  of  the 
Hebrew  restoration  and  this  final  consummation 
of  the  Christian  dispensation  will  be  forty  -  five 
years.  And  the  inquiry  presents  itself,  What  will 
happen,  in  the  course  of  Providence,  during  this 
intermediate  period  ?  Judging  from  the  varied  ref- 
erences to  this  specific  time,  in  the  Scriptures,  our 
inference  is  that  it  must  be  a  period  of  astonishing 
and  most  marvellous  disclosures. 

In  the  first  verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter  we  are 
told  that  immediately  after  the  overthrow  of  the 
Mahometan  power,  "  there  shall  be  a  time  of 
trouble,  such  as  there  never  was  since  there  was  a 
nation,  even  to  that  same  time."  The  connection 
of  this  paragraph  with  the  preceding  part  of  the 
same  verse,  and  with  the  last  verse  of  the  preceding 
chapter,  together  with  the  concluding  sentence  of 
this  same  verse,  shows  conclusively,  that  this  time 
of  trouble  will  begin  with  the  introduction  of — or  a 
preparation  for  —  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  in 
1897,  and  will  continue  during  the  subsequent 
forty-five  3^ears,  until  the  "  blessed  "  period,  which 
begins  in  the  3'ear  one  thousand  three  hundred  and 


152 


THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


five  and  thirty  years  after  the  constitution  of  Boni- 
face Universal  Bishop  in  607,  and  the  commence- 
ment of  Mahomet's  ministry,  that  is,  the  year  1942. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

ADDITIONAL  AND   CORROBORATIVE   PROOFS   FROM 
OTHER   SCRIPTURES. 

IT  is  now  proposed  further  to  elucidate  some 
portions  of  this  prophecy  of  Daniel,  from  other 
books  of  Scripture  where  reference  is  evidently 
made  to  the  same  subjects  treated  of  by  Daniel. 
In  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  Revelation,  in  verses 
ten  and  eleven,  we  have  an  account  of  the  pouring 
out  of  the  fifth  vial  upon  the  seat  of  the  beast.  The 
occurrences  which  have  taken  place  at  Rome,  in 
these  times,  going  back  to  the  year  1846,  and  so 
continuing  down  to  the  present  day,  are  depicted 
with  wonderful  exactness  in  these  two  verses.  As 
has  been  before  shown,  an  effort  was  made  by  the 
Romans  themselves  to  overthrow  the  papal  govern- 
ment in  1846,  which  resulted  in  the  expulsion  of 
Pio  Nono  from  Rome  in  1847.  The  two  verses  re- 
ferred to  are  as  follows :  "  And  the  fifth  angel 
7*  (153) 


154  ^-^-^   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  seat  of  the  beast ; 
and  his  kingdom  was  full  of  darkness ;  and  they 
gnawed  their  tongues  for  pain  ;  and  blasphemed  the 
God  of  heaven,  because  of  their  pains  and  their 
sores,  and  repented  not  of  their  deeds."  By  way 
of  illustration  of  these  graphic  descriptions,  let  us 
here  look  at  an  *'  Encyclical  letter"  from  the  Pope 
soon  after  these  disturbances:  "  To  the  Patriarchs, 
Primates,  Archbishops  and  Bishops  in  communion 
with  the  Holy  See :  Venerable  Brethren,  The  sedi- 
tious movements  which  have  lately  broken  out  in 
Italy  against  the  authority  of  legitimate  princes,  in 
countries  nearest  to  the  States  of  the  Church,  have 
invaded  some  of  our  jirovinccs  like  the  flames  of  a 
conflagration.  Excited  by  this  fatal  example,  and 
by  intrigues  abroad,  they  have  thrown  off  our  pa- 
ternal rule,  and  in  spite  of  their  small  numbers,  the 
adherents  of  the  revolt  demand  that  they  shall  be 
subjected  to  that  one  of  the  Italian  governments 
which  of  late  years  has  been  the  adversary  of  the 
church,  of  its  legitimate  rights  and  of  its  sacred 
ministers.  Reproving  and  deploring  the  acts  of 
rebellion,  by  which  a  portion  only  of  the  people  in 
those  disturbed  provinces  disregard  with  so  much 
injustice  our  zeal  and  our  paternal  care,  and  declar- 
ing publicly  that  the  temporal  sovereignty,  which 
the  most  perfidious  enemies  of  the  church  of  Christ 


PROOFS  FBOM  OTUER  SCRIPTURES.         155 

are  endeavoring  to  wrest  from  it,  is  necessary  to 
the  Holy  See,  in  order  that  it  may  exercise,  with- 
out any  obstacle,  its  sacred  power  for  the  welfare 
of  religion,  we  address  you.  Venerable  Brethren,' 
this  present  letter,  in  order  to  seek  in  the  midst  of 
such  serious  disturbances  of  public  peace,  some  con- 
solation for  our  sorroiu.  On  this  occasion  we  ex- 
hort you  to  see  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  pre- 
scription, which  we  read  was  formerly  given  by 
Moses  to  Aaron,  the  sovereign  pontiff  of  the  He- 
brews :  Take  a  censer  and  put  fire  therein  from  off 
the  altar,  and  put  on  incense  and  go  quickly  unto 
the  congregation  and  make  an  atonement  for  them, 
for  there  is  wrath  gone  out  from  the  Lord,  the  plague 

is  begun Moreover,  we  solemnly  declare  that, 

possessed  of  the  power  from  above  which  God, 
moved  by  the  praj^ers  of  the  faithful,  will  confer  on 
our  weakness,  we  will  brave  all  perils  and  undergo 
all  trials,  sooner  than  fail  in  any  respect  in  our  apos- 
tolic duty,  or  do  anything  whatever  against  the 
sanctity  of  the  oath  by  which  we  bound  ourselves, 
when  we  were  raised  by  God's  will  to  the  supreme 
seat  of  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles."  In  this  the 
pontiff  declares  that  the  plague  has  begun  ;  and 
then  it  equall}^  appears  that  he  repented  not  of  his 
deeds. 
Hereupon  the  sixth  angel   poured  out  his  vial 


156  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

upon  the  great  river  Euphrates ;  and  the  water 
thereof  was  dried  up,  "that  the  way  of  the  kings  of 
the  east  might  be  prepared."  It  has  been  herein 
•before  shown  how  the  Mahometan  power  "  shall 
come  to  his  end,  and  none  shall  help  him" — that  is  to 
say,  shall  gradually  waste  away,  and  in  due  time  be 
totally  annihilated,  in  accordance  with  the  proph- 
cc}^  of  Daniel ;  so  now  here  the  very  same  thing  is 
foreshadowed  in  the  Revelation,  under  the  type  of 
the  river  Euphrates  being  dried  up,  and  in  imme- 
diate proximity,  following  in  both  cases  the  de- 
struction of  antichrist.  No  one  can  reasonably 
doubt  the  reference,  both  in  Daniel  and  St.  John,  to 
the  same  occurrences.  It  admits  of  more  doubt 
precisely  what  is  intended  by  "the  way  of  the 
kings  of  the  east  being  prepared."  It  is  suggested, 
whether,  b}'  the  "  kings  of  the  east,"  in  this  place 
is  not  meant  the  chosen  people  of  God  ;  and  if  so, 
the  drying  up  of  the  Mahometan  despotism  would 
surely  prepare  the  way  for  their  return  to  their 
own  land.  In  behalf  of  the  above  suggestion,  it 
may  be  argued  with  great  force  that  we  should 
give  to  the  language  of  a  writer,  as  near  as  possible, 
the  same  meaning  in  one  paragraph  which  is  its 
obvious  meaning  in  another.  Proceeding  upon 
this  principle,  vv^e  look  back  to  the  first  chapter  of 
the  Apocalypse,  and,  commencing   with  the  fifth 


PROOFS  FROM  OTHER  SCRIPTURES.  157 

verse,  we  read,  "  And  from  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the 
faithful  witness,  and  the  first  begotten  from  the 
dead,  and  the  prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  unto 
him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in 
his  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us  kings  mid  priests 
unto  God."  That  the  word  kings  is  not  used  here 
m  its  common,  secular  acceptation  is  very  apparent ; 
and  it  is  almost  equally  apparent  that  its  use  in  the 
above  sense  would  justify  its  application  to  the 
regenerated  Jews,  on  their  return  to  the  Holy  Land. 
Now  it  will  be  borne  m  mind  that  Daniel  de- 
clares, that  immediately  after  the  dissolution  of  the 
Mahometan  power,  and,  indeed,  linked  to  it,  "there 
shall  be  a  time  of  trouble  such  as  never  was  since 
there  was  a  nation,  even  to  that  same  time."  So 
here,  in  the  Apocalypse,  the  very  next  event  fore- 
told, as  following  the  drying  up  of  the  Euphrates, 
and  as  a  part  of  the  same  vial,  the  Revelator  says : 
"  I  saw  three  unclean  spirits  like  frogs  come  out  of 
the  mouth  of  the  Dragon,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Beast,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  False  Pro- 
phet ;"  and  in  the  sixteenth  verse,  "  He  gathered 
them  together  into  a  place  called  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue,  Armageddon."  And  then  the  seventh  angel 
poured  out  his  vial  into  the  air  ;  and  there  came  a 
great  voice  out  of  the  temple  of  Heaven  from  the 
throne,  saying,  "  It  is  done."     And  then  comes  on 


15$  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

precisely  the  time  of  trouble  mentioned  more 
briefly  by  Daniel :  "  There  were  voices,  and  thun- 
derings,  and  lightnings ;  and  there  was  a  great 
earthquake,  such  as  there  was  not  since  men  were 
upon  the  earth,  so  mighty  an  earthquake  and  so 
great."  "  And  the  cities  of  the  nations  fell ;  and 
great  Bab3"lon  came  in  remembrance  before  God, 
to  give  unto  her  the  cup  of  the  wine  of  the  fierce- 
ness of  his  wrath."  "  And  there  fell  upon  men  a 
great  hail  out  of  heaven,  every  stone  about  the 
weight  of  a  talent :  and  men  blasphemed  God  be- 
cause of  the  plague  of  the  hail  ;  for  the  plague 
thereof  was  exceeding  great."  This  account  ap- 
pears perfectly  to  corroborate  the  same  events  fore- 
told by  Daniel,  ages  before  it  was  written  by  St. 
John  in  the  Island  of  Patmos.  Yet  it  is  given  here  in 
language,  and  even  in  ideas  so  totally  different,  as  to 
remove  all  suspicion  that  he  was  in  any  way  cop)'- 
ing  from  the  predictions  of  the  earlier  prophets. 
We  may  also  quote  here,  as  an  authority,  corre- 
sponding to  the  prophecy  of  the  same  terrible 
woes,  from  our  Savior,  in  explaining  certain  ques- 
tions put  by  the  apostles,  of  which  more  will  be 
said  hereafter.  "  Immediately  after  the  tribulation 
of  those  days,  shall  the  sun  be  darkened  and  the 
moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall 
fall  from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the  heavens 


PROOFS  FROM  OTHER  SCRIPTURES.         159 

shall  be  shaken  ;  and  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of 
the  Son  of  man  in  heaven,  and  then  shall  all  the 
tribes  of  the  earth  mourn."  This  most  evidently 
relates  to  the  same  subject,  and  agrees  with  both 
Daniel  and  the  Apocalypse,  in  the  substance  of  the 
prophecy.  These  days  of  tribulation  are  alluded 
to,  or  described  by  nearly  all  the  prophets,  in  lan- 
guage at  once  varied  and  most  impressive.  In  the 
seventh  chapter  of  Daniel  the  prophet  is  shown  at 
one  glance,  the  close  of  the  amazing  scenes  de- 
picted in  all  his  visions  :  "  I  beheld,"  says  he,  "  till 
the  thrones  were  set,  and  the  Ancient  of  days  did 
sit,  whose  garment  was  white  as  snow,  and  the 
hair  of  his  head  like  pure  wool ;  his  throne  was 
the  fiery  flame,  and  his  wheels  burning  fire.  A 
fiery  stream  issued  and  came  forth  from  before 
him  :  thousand  thousands  ministered  unto  him,  and 
ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  stood  before  him  ; 
the  judgment  was  set,  and  the  books  were  opened. 
I  beheld,  even  till  the  beast  was  slain,  and  his  body 
destroyed  and  given  to  the  burning  flame." 

In  Zechariah,  12th,  13th,  and  14th  chapters, 
we  have  a  graphic  narration,  not  only  of  the  sor- 
rows and  tribulations  to  which  the  people  will  be 
subjected  ;  but  also  an  affecting  account  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  our  Savior  among  his  people,  and  of 
the  happy  influences  his  presence  will  have  upon 


l6o  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

them.     "  Behold,  I  will  make  Jerusalem  a  cup  of 
tremblin<^  unto  all  the  people  round  about,  when 
they  shall  be  in  the  siege  both  against  Judah  and 
against  Jerusalem,  and  in  that  day  will  I  make  Je- 
rusalem a  burdensome  stone  for  all  people.     All 
that  burden   themselves  with   it   shall  be   cut   in 
pieces,  though  all  the  people  of  the  earth  be  gath- 
ered together  against  it.     In   that  day,  saith   the 
Lord,  I  will  smite  every  horse  with  astonishment 
and  his  rider  with  madness."     "  In  that  day  will  I 
make  the  governors  of  Judah  like  an  hearth  of  fire 
among  the  wood,  and  like  a  torch  of  fire  in  a  sheaf, 
and  they  shall  devour  all  the  people  round  about, 
on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left.     And  Jerusalem 
shall  be  inhabited  again  in  her  own  place,  even  in 
Jerusalem.     In  that  day  shall  the  Lord  defend  the 
inhabitants   of  Jerusalem  ;    and    he   that  is   feeble 
among  them,  at  that  day  shall  be  as  David.     And 
it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  I  will  seek  to 
destroy  all  the  nations  that  come  against  Jerusa- 
lem,    x\nd  I  will  pour  upon  the  house  of  David, 
and  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  the  spirit 
of  grace  and  of  supplication  ;  and  the}^  shall  look 
upon  me  whom  they  have  pierced  ;  and  they  shall 
mourn  for  him  as  one  that  mourneth  for  his  only 
son  ;  and  shall  be  in  bitterness  for  him  as  one  is  in 
bitterness  for  his  first-born." 


rr.oGFS  F1W2J  otllh  lct.iptures.       i6i 

So,  too,  the  same  thing  is  strikingly  presented 
in  Joel,  second  chapter:  "  Blow  ye  the  trumpet  in 
Zion,  and  sound  an  alarm  in  my  holy  mountain  : 
let  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  tremble  :  for 
the  day  of  the  Lord  cometh,  it  is  nigh  at  hand  : 
a  day  of  darkness  and  of  gloominess,  a  day  of 
clouds  and  of  thick  darkness,  as  the  morning 
spread  upon  the  mountains  ;  a  great  people  and 
a  strong  :  a  fire  devoureth  before  them,  and  be- 
hind them  a  flame  burneth  :  the  land  is  as  the  gar- 
den of  Eden  before  them  ;  and  behind  them  a  deso- 
late wilderness ;  yea,  and  nothing  shall  escape  them. 
Before  their  faces  the  people  shall  be  much  pained, 
the  earth  shall  quake  before  them  :  the  heavens 
shall  tremble.  The  sun  and  moon  shall  be  dark, 
and  the  stars  shall  withdrav/  their  shining.  And 
the  Lord  shall  utter  his  voice  before  his  army,  for 
his  camp  is  very  great ;  for  he  is  strong  and  exe- 
cuteth  his  word  ;  for  the  da)'-  of  the  Lord  is  great 
and  very  terrible,  and  who  can  abide  it  ?  And  I 
will  show  wonders  in  the  heavens  and  in  the  earth, 
blood  and  fire  and  pillars  of  smoke.  The  sun  shall 
be  turned  into  darkness,  and  the  moon  into  blood, 
before  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord 
come."  "  Let  the  nations  be  wakened  and  come 
up  to  the  valley  of  Jehosaphat ;  for  there  will  I  sit 
to  judge  all  the  nations  round  about.     Put  ye  in 


1 62  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

the  sickle  for  the  harvest  is  ripe.  Come,  get  you 
down,  for  the  press  is  full,  for  the  fats  ov^erflow  : 
for  their  wickedness  is  great :  tlie  sun  and  the 
moon  shall  be  darkened,  and  the  stars  shall  with- 
draw their  shining." 

We  add  another  like  description  from  the  nine- 
teenth chapter  of  Revelations :  "  And  I  saw  heaven 
opened,  and  behold  a  white  horse,  and  he  that  sat 
upon  him  was  called  Faithful  and  True  ;  and  in 
righteousness  doth  he  judge  and  make  war ;  and 
his  eyes  were  as  a  flame  of  fire,  and  on  his  head 
were  many  crowns ;  and  he  had  a  name  written  that 
no  man  knew  but  himself.  And  he  was  clothed  with 
a  vesture  dipped  in  blood  ;  and  his  name  is  called 
the  Word  of  God.  And  the  armies  which  were 
in  heaven  followed  him  upon  white  horses,  clothed 
in  linen  white  and  clean.  And  out  of  his  mouth 
goeth  a  sharp  sword,  that  with  it  he  should  smite 
the  nations  :  and  he  shall  rule  them  with  a  rod  of 
iron.  And  he  treadeth  the  winepress  of  the  fierce- 
ness and  wrath  of  Almighty  God.  7\nd  he  hath 
on  his  vesture  and  on  his  thigh  a  name  written 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  And  I  saw  an 
angel  standing  in  the  sun  :  and  he  cried  with  a 
loud  voice,  saying  to  all  the  fowls  that  fly  in  the 
midst  of  heaven.  Come  and  gather  yourselves  to- 
gether unto  the  supper  of  the  great  God,  that  ye 


PROOFS  FROM  OTHER  SCRIPTURES.         163 

may  eat  the  flesh  of  kings,  and  the  flesh  of  captains, 
and  the  flesh  of  mighty  men,  and  the  flesh  of  horses 
and  of  them  that  sit  on  them,  and  the  flesh  of  all 
men.  And  I  saw  the  beast  and  the  kings  of  the 
earth,  and  their  armies  gathered  together  to  make 
war  against  him  that  sat  on  the  horse  and  against 
his  army.  And  the  beast  was  taken,  and  with  him 
the  false  prophet,  that  wrought  miracles  before 
him,  with  which  he  deceived  them  that  had  re- 
ceived the  mark  of  the  beast,  and  them  that  wor- 
shiped his  image  :  these  were  both  cast  alive  into 
the  lake  of  fire,  burning  with  brimstone.  And  the 
remnant  were  slain  with  the  sword  of  him  that  sat 
upon  the  horse,  which  sword  proceeded  out  of  his 
mouth." 

An  explanation  of  the  various  symbols  used  in 
this  and  other  passages,  does  not  fall  within  the 
scope  of  this  argument.  It  is  sufficient  for  my  pur- 
pose to  know  that  they  foreshadow  unspeakable 
woes,  and  are  quoted  only  to  illustrate  the  sliort 
paragraph  from  Daniel,  "  There  shall  be  a  time  of 
trouble  such  as  never  was  since  there  was  a  nation, 
even  to  that  time."  The  word  here  rendered  "  trou- 
ble," really  has  a  much  more  intensified  significa- 
tion in  the  original.  Its  first  and  most  proper 
meaning  is  "  throwing"  or  "  dashing  to  the  ground," 
and  while  there  will  be  "troubles"  such  as  have 


164  TUE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

never  before  been,  individually,  witnessed  among 
men,  in  addition  to  that, the  whole  fabric  of  society 
will  be  dashed  to  atoms  ;  of  which  more  will  be 
found  in  the  subsequent  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SECOND   PETER,  THIRD   CHAPTER,  TENTH   VERSE. 

IT  is  now  proposed  to  examine  a  passage  in  the 
second  Epistle  of  Peter,  in  the  third  chapter, 
which  is  manifestly  only  another  phase  of  the  same 
terrific  consummation,  and  which  seems  to  have 
been  greatly  misunderstood.  The  passage  espe- 
cially referred  to  is  the  tenth  verse,  "  But  the  day 
of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night,  in  the 
which,  the  heavens  shal^.  pass  away  with  a  great 
noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent 
heat,  the  earth  also  and  the  works  that  are  therein 
shall  be  burned  up."  Before  any  comments  are 
made  upon  this  passage,  it  will  be  proper  to  give 
some  of  the  opinions  heretofore  entertained  of  it. 
The  very  judicious  Mr.  Scott  says :  "  At  that  im- 
portant catastrophe,  the  heavens  and  all  the  host 
of  them,  (so  far  at  least  as  connected  with  this  earth 
and  its  inhabitants,)  will  pass  away  and  rush  into 

(165) 


1 66  TEE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

confusion  and  destruction  with  a  tremendous  noise, 
of  which  thunder,  earthquakes  and  all  other  con- 
vulsions of  nature  are  wholly  inadequate  to  give 
the  least  conception.  Then  all  the  elements  of 
which  the  earth  and  its  atmosphere,  and  all  the  lu- 
minaries connected  with  it,  are  composed,  shall 
melt  with  intense  heat."  He  has  much  more  of 
the  same  complexion,  but  this  will  suffice.  The 
good  Doctor  Doddridge  takes  a  similar  view,  but 
expresses  it  very  briefly  :  "  The  elements  of  which 
this  goodly  frame  of  nature  is  composed,  being  set 
on  fire,  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  earth  and  all  its 
works  shall  be  burnt  up,  so  that  none  of  the  orna- 
ments of  nature  or  of  art  shall  any  longer  continue ; 
but  the  whole  shall  be  one  undistinguished  heap 
of  smoking  desolation."  The  excellent  Matthew 
Henry  treats  of  it  in  much  the  same  style,  though 
he  seems  to  A^erge  somcAyhat  nearer  towards  what 
must  be  the  true  meaning.  One  commentator  says 
the  visible  heavens  will  pass  away  "  with  a  great 
whiz."  Another  calls  it  "the  hissing  sound  of  a 
dart  passing  through  the  air ;  the  flight  of  birds ; 
the  soft  motion  of  the  winds;  the  running  of  a 
chariot ;  the  rolling  of  an  impetuous  torrent ;  the 
noise  of  soldiers  running  to  battle ;  the  crackling 
of  a  wide-spread  fire ;  the  rushing  sound  of  a  vio- 
lent storm  or  tempest."     Another  remarks  of  the 


2   PETER  3  :  10.  167 

"  elements,"  some  say  "  air,"  others,  "  the  stars." 
One  refers  it  ("  elements")  to  the  heavens,  which 
goes  before,  and  explains  it  of  the  electric  matter, 
sulphurous  vapors,  and  whatever  floats  in  the  air, 
together  with  the  air  itself"  Another  says,  "  Sup- 
pose the  earth,  air  and  water  shall  be  subdued  by 
the  prevalence  of  fire  ;  and  their  stamina  or  first 
constituent  principles  quite  altered  thereby ;  then 
it  may  very  properly  be  said,  the  elements  being  on 
fire  shall  be  dissolved  or  melted!'  These  quotations 
are  sufficient  to  show  the  views  which  have  almost 
or  quite  universally  been  entertained  of  the  mean- 
ing of  this  passage  in  Peter.  They  are  altogether 
of  a  literal  character.  For  a  layman  to  offer  an 
opinion  against  such  authorities  may  seem  very 
presumptuous,  but  the  conviction  cannot  be  re- 
moved that  a  much  more  satisfactory  and  momen- 
tous significance  belongs  to  the  passage.  As  this 
prediction  of  Peter  undoubtedly  refers  to  the  same 
sublime  and  fearful  tragedy,  often  repeated  under 
various  symbolical  forms,  in  the  Scriptures,  we 
will  endeavor  to  ascertain  here  the  meaning  of 
certain  symbols  used  in  the  prophecy.  In  the 
eighteenth  verse  of  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  the 
Revelation,  while  recounting  the  troubles  to  occur 
in  the  period  between  the  commencement  of  the 
Restoration  of  the  Jews  and  the  close  of  the  forty- 


1 68  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

five  years,  among  other  things  mentioned,  the  Rev- 
elator  says,  "  there  was  a  great  earthquake,  such  as 
was  not  since  men  were  upon  the  earth."  It  ma^ 
be  presumed  that  few  would  give  the  word  "  earth- 
quake" its  literal  signification,  and  suppose  it  meant 
a  shaking  of  the  physical  globe ;  such  a  notion 
would  hardly  be  consistent  with  the  context  or 
with  the  general  matter  of  the  Revelation.  "  Earth- 
quake," in  the  symbolical  language  of  Scripture,  is 
by  all  commentators  defined  to  signify  some  great 
civil  or  religious  convulsion.  Mr.  Fabcr  has  it, 
"  An  earthquake  is  a  sudden  convulsion  in  an  em- 
pire, violently  oversetting  the  existing  order  of 
things."  We  must  then  understand,  by  this  tre- 
mendous earthquake,  such  as  was  not  known  since 
men  were  upon  the  earth,  the  greatest  possible  rev- 
olution in  the  whole  fabric  of  human  society.  There 
are  other  symbols  as  striking  and  impressive  as 
this,  such  as,  "  the  sun  shall  be  darkened,"  "  the 
moon  turned  into  blood,"  and  the  like,  all  doubtless 
referring  to  the  same  fearful'  event ;  but  this  one  is 
sufficient  for  our  present  purpose. 

We  begin  our  inquiries,  then,  as  to  the  true 
meaning  of  the  passage  under  consideration,  with 
the  knowledge  that  such  a  stupendous  revolution 
is  to  happen  at  the  time  referred  to  by  the  apostle  ; 
a  revolution  subvertinir  all  the  civil  and  rcliirious 


2  PETER  3  :  10.  169 

governments  in  the  world.  We  must  also  under- 
stand the  fact,  which  seems  to  have  been  over- 
looked by  all  who  have  written  on  the  subject,  that 
this  passage  of  Peter,  namely,  is  as  absolutely  a 
prophecy  as  that  of  Daniel  or  Saint  John.  "  In 
the  which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great 
noise."  In  prophecy,  then,  what  is  the  true  mean- 
ing of  "  heavens,"  as  a  symbol  ?  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
has  given  a  catalogue  of  symbols,  with  their  inter- 
pretations. From  him  we  learn  that  "  the  symbol- 
ical heaven  comprehends  the  sun,  the  moon,  and 
the  stars.  In  the  language  of  symbols,  the  sun  of 
a  kingdom  is  the  government  of  that  kingdom." 
There  is  no  known  difference  of  opinion  among  stu- 
dents on  this  matter.  But  if  "  heaven,"  in  symbol- 
ical language,  signifies  the  government  of  a  king- 
dom, or,  by  parity  of  reason,  any  other  govern- 
ment, then,  most  assuredly,  "the  heavens,"  applied 
in  the  same  way,  comprehends  something  more 
than  one  government.  In  the  case  before  us,  the 
apostle  has  evidently  been  discoursing,  not  of  any 
particular  government  or  country,  but  of  the  in- 
terests of  all  mankind.  It  therefore  seems  to  be  a 
necessary  sequence,  that  in  using  the  term  "the 
heavens"  prophetically  here,  he  intended  to  apply 
it,  and  did  so  apply  it,  to  represent  all  the  govern- 
ments of  the  world.  This  being  conceded,  we  read 
8 


I70  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

the  passage  thus :  "  After  terrible  convulsions  the 
governments  of  the  world  will  be  subverted  and 
pass  away,"  for  what  purpose  and  to  what  end  we 
shall  see  in  the  sequel, 

"  And  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat." 
While  it  is  easy  to  show  that  this  proposition  is 
usually  misunderstood,  it  ma}^  be  readily  admitted 
that  its  true  meaning  is  more  obscure  than  the 
former,  and  admits  of  more  doubt  of  its  exact  sig- 
nification. While  it  is  clear  that  the  "  heavens  "  in 
the  other  case  has  no  allusion  to  the  visible  firma- 
ment ;  so  no  more  has  the  word  "  elements  "  any 
relation  to  what  was  formerly  supposed  to  be  the 
simple  physical  constituents  of  this  world — earth, 
air,  fire  and  water.  The  Greek  word  here  trans- 
lated "  elements,"  is  stoichcia.  This  word  is  used 
in  the  epistles  six  times.  In  Galatians,  4th  chap- 
ter and  3d  verse,  "  Even  so  we  when  we  were  chil- 
dren were  in  bondage  under  the  clcnicnis  of  the 
world."  And  in  the  9th  verse  of  the  same  chapter, 
"  But  that  now,  after  that  ye  have  known  God,  or 
rather  are  known  of  God,  how  turn  ye  again  to 
the  weak  and  beggarly  elements,  whereunto  ye  de- 
sire again  to  be  in  bondage."  Now,  whatever  any 
may  suppose  the  true  meaning,  none  can  affirm 
that  the  word  here  translated  elements,  really  means 
the  properties  of  physical  nature. 


2  PETER  3  :  10. 


171 


Another  place  where  the  same  word  is  used  is 
Colossians,  2d  chapter  and  8th  verse,  "  Beware 
lest  any  man  spoil  you,  through  philosophy  or 
vain  deceit,  after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the 
rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ."  And 
in  the  20th  verse  of  the  same  chapter,  "Wherefore, 
if  ye  be  dead  with  Christ  from  the  rudiments  of  the 
world,  why  as  though  living  in  the  world  are 
ye  subject  to  ordinances  (touch  not,  taste  not,  han- 
dle not,  which  all  are  to  perish  in  the  using),  after 
the  commandment  and  doctrines  of  men  ?"  Here 
it  seems  quite  as  apparent  that  the  same  Greek 
word  translated  "  rudiments,"  does  not  refer  in  any 
manner  to  the  physical  elements  of  our  earth.  The 
same  Greek  word  is  found  in  the  5th  chapter  of 
Hebrews,  12th  verse,  where  it  is  translated  "  prin- 
ciples " — "  Ye  have  need  that  one  teach  you  again 
which  be  the  first  principles  of  the  oracles  of  God." 
We  may  then  inquire,  with  some  degree  of  curios- 
ity, why,  in  the  only  other  place  where  the  word 
is  used,  that  now  under  consideration,  it  should 
have  a  popular  meaning  assigned  to  it  so  totally 
different  from  what  it  receives  in  every  other  place 
where  it  is  used  ?  It  might  be  surmised,  only  to 
be  in  keeping  with  the  popular  understanding  of 
the  preceding  sentence.  For  if  the  visible  heavens, 
whatever  might  be  understood  by  the  term,  were 


172 


THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


to  pass  away  "  with  a  great  whiz,"  why  should  not 
also  the  "  elements  "  of  which  the  solid  earth  is 
composed,  and  all  its  surroundings,  be  melted  with 
fervent  heat?  In  two  of  the  cases  cited  above  from 
the  epistles,  the  word  stoiclicia  evidently  means  re- 
ligious ordinances  or  ritualistic  ceremonies.  In  the 
others  it  has  a  meaning  somewhat  different.  It  is 
translated  "  principles,"  "  elements,"  or  "  beggarly 
elements  "  "  of  the  world,  whereunto  ye  desire  again 
to  be  in  bondage."  As  no  one  could  desire  to  be  in 
bondage  to  the  four  physical  elements,  we  must 
look  further  for  the  signification  here.  The  "  ele- 
ments," or  "  beggarly  elements,"  in  this  place  doubt- 
less refer  to  those  worldly  attractions  of  wealth, 
pleasure,  etc.,  to  which  the  children  of  this  world 
are  liable  to  be  inordinately  attached,  and  by  which 
to  be  destroyed.  It  is  quite  possible  that  both 
these  meanings  are  here  included  in  the  word 
"  elements."  But  for  the  sake  of  simplicity,  we 
confine  our  view  of  it  to  religious  ordinances  and 
ritualistic  ceremonies  in  their  ecclesiastical  aspect. 
The  proper  meaning  of  the  Greek  word  translated 
"  shall  melt,"  is  "  loosed,"  "  unloosed,"  or  "  dis- 
charged," and  it  may  with  perfect  propriety  be 
rendered  "  abrogated."  The  word  rendered  "  fer- 
vent heat,"  is  more  difficult  of  explanation.  It 
means  **  being  inflamed  "  or  "  excited,"  and  may 


2  PETER  3  :  10. 


173 


be  used  in  a  moral  as  well  as  a  physical  sense.  In 
construing  the  sentence,  the  only  difficulty  seems 
to  be  that  we  have  to  give  an  active  sense  to  an 
inactive  subject.  Ceremonies  and  ordinances  could 
not  with  propriety  be  said  to  be  inflamed  ;  and  as 
the  word  appears  to  be  used  only  for  intensifying 
the  sense,  we  may  omit  it,  leaving  the  phrase  to 
read,  "  all  human  ordinances,  ritualisms  and  legal 
ceremonies  shall  be  abrogated."  The  other  clause 
in  the  verse  reads,  "  The  earth  also,  and  the  works 
that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up."  "  The  earth," 
according  to  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  when  taken  in  a 
temporal  sense,  imports,  in  the  abstract,  the  terri- 
torial dominions  of  any  Pagan  or  irreligious  em- 
pire." "  In  a  spiritual  sense,  a  state  of  Paganism 
or  apostacy."  This  is  unquestionably  its  general 
meaning.  In  the  46th  Psalm,  the  sixth  verse,  we 
have,  "  The  heathen  raged,  the  kingdoms  were 
moved :  He  uttered  his  voice,  the  earth  melted." 
Here  we  have  not  only  the  meaning  of  the  word 
*'  earth,''  but  also  an  opportunity  to  form  a  definite 
appreciation  of  the  word  "  melt,"  as  used  in  this 
connection.  It  can  be,  so  far  as  appears,  applied 
only  to  the  destruction  of  the  heathen.  In  the 
loth  Psalm,  i8th  verse,  we  find,  *'  To  judge  the 
fatherless  and  the  oppressed,  that  the  man  of  the 
*  earth  '  may  no  more  oppress."     In  a  broad  sense 


174  TEE  TIMES  OB'  DANIEL. 

then,  the  "  earth  "  symbohcally  includes  all  who 
are  at  enmity  with  God.  The  phrase,  "  shall  be 
burnt  up,"  may  with  equal  propriety  be  translated, 
"  shall  be  consumed."  The  whole  paragraph  would 
then  read,  "  All  the  enemies  of  God  shall  be  con- 
sumed." This  construction  seems  to  be  fully  sup- 
ported by  various  passages  of  Scripture.  Malachi 
in  the  fourth  chapter  says  :  "  Behold,  the  day  com- 
eth  that  shall  burn  as  an  oven,  and  all  the  proud, 
yea,  and  all  they  that  do  wickedly,  shall  be  stubble  ; 
and  the  day  that  cometh  shall  bum  than  up,  saith 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  that  it  shall  leave  them  neither 
root  nor  branch,"  "  And  ye  shall  tread  down  the 
wicked  ;  for  tJiey  shall  be  ashes  under  the  soles  of  your 
feet,  in  the  day  that  I  shall  do  this,  saith  the  Lord 
of  Hosts."  There  can,  then,  be  no  reasonable 
doubt  that  this  whole  passage  is  a  figurative  de- 
scription in  glowing  colors  of  the  same  time  of 
trouble  mentioned  by  Daniel,  resulting  in  the  sub- 
version of  all  secular  governments,  the  eradication 
of  all  ritualistic  ceremonies  and  ordinances,  the 
overthrow  of  all  ecclesiastical  domination,  and 
the  utter  destruction  of  the  wicked,  who  shall,  at 
the  given  time,  be  upon  the  earth.  With  a  like 
purport  a  passage  may  be  cited  from  the  Revela- 
tion, apph  cable  to  the  same  time  ;  that  is,  the  final 
close  of  our  present  dispensation  :  "  And  the  beast 


3  PETER  3:  10.  1 75 

was  taken,  and  with  him  the  false  prophet  that 
wrought  miracles  before  him,  with  which  he  de- 
ceived them  that  had  received  the  mark  of  the 
beast,  and  them  that  had  worshiped  his  image. 
These  were  both  cast  into  a  lake  of  fire,  burning 
Avith  brimstone." 

If  the  view  of  this  passage  in  Peter,  thus  pre- 
sented, be  correct,  then  the  whole  paragraph  will 
read  as  follows  :  ''  The  day  of  the  Lord  will  come 
as  a  thief  in  the  night,  in  the  which,  in  the  midst  of 
terrific  convulsions,  the  governments  of  the  world 
shall  all  be  subverted,  and  pass  away  ;  legal  ordi- 
nances and  ritualistic  ceremonies  shall  be  abro- 
gated, ecclesiastical  tyranny  abolished,  and  all  the 
enemies  of  God  shall  be  consumed."  "  Neverthe- 
less we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  right- 
eousness." So  says  Peter,  and  in  almost  the  same 
words  says  the  Revelator :  "  I  saw  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth,  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first 
earth  were  passed  avvay,  and  there  was  no  more 
sea."  "The  sea,"  we  are  again  informed  on  the 
authority  of  Newton,  "  ever  turbulent  and  restless, 
represents  nations  in  a  tumultuous  and  revolution- 
ary state."  "  And  I,  John,  saw  the  Holy  City,  New 
Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven, 
prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.    And 


176  THE  TIMES  OF  DANIEL. 

I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven,  saying,  Be- 
hold the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he 
will  dwell  luith  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people, 
and  God  himself  sJiall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God. 
And  he  ...  .  showed  me  that  great  city,  the  holy 
Jerusalem,  descending  out  of  heaven  from  God, 
having  the  glory  of  God."  "  And  I  saw  no  temple 
therein :  for  the  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb 
are  the  temple  of  it."  Such,  then,  seem  to  be  the 
amazing  scenes  which  are  to  be  enacted  upon  our 
earth  during  and  immediately  after  the  time  of 
"  trouble  such  as  there  never  was  since  there  was 
a  nation." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

CHRIST'S   ANSWER   TO   HIS   DISCIPLES. 

WE  now  turn  to  the  twenty-fourth  chapter 
of  Matthew,  recording  the  answer  of  our 
Savior  to  certain  questions  of  his  disciples,  relat- 
ing among  other  things,  principally  to  his  own  sec- 
ond coming  and  the  end  of  the  world. 

"  Jesus  said  to  his  disciples.  See  ye  not  all  these 
things  ?  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  there  shall  not  be 
left  one  stone  upon  another,  that  shall  not  be 
thrown  down."  "  And  as  he  sat  upon  the  Mount 
of  Olives,  the  disciples  came  unto  him  privately, 
saying.  Tell  us,  zvJicn  shall  these  things  be  ?  and 
what  shall  be  the  sig7i  of  thy  coming  ?  and  of  the 
end  of  the  world  ?"  Or,  as  it  is  in  the  original, 
"  the  consummation  of  time."  Here  were  three 
distinct  questions  proposed,  which,  it  would  seem, 
the  disciples  confounded  together,  at  least,  as  to 
time.     The  first  related  to  the  temple  ;  the  second, 

8^  (177) 


178  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

to  Christ ;  and  the  third,  to  the  end  of  our  present 
dispensation.  All  these  questions  were  answered 
separately,  distinctly  and  in  a  manner  that  admit- 
ted of  no  doubtful  construction.  Though  they  are 
not  answered  seriatim,  an  examination  of  them  shall 
be  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  proposed.  While 
looking-  about  Jerusalem,  and  at  the  temple,  Jesus 
had  told  them  that  "  not  one  stone  should  be  left 
upon  another,  that  should  not  be  thrown  down." 
Their  first  question  related  back  to  this  statement, 
"  When  shall  these  things  be  ?"  In  the  fifteenth 
verse  of  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Matthew, 
our  Savior  tmdoubtedly  answers  this  question: 
"  When  ye  therefore  shall  see  the  abomination  of 
desolation,  spoken  of  by  Daniel  the  prophet,  stand 
in  the  holy  place,  then  let  them  which  be  in  Judea 
flee  into  the  mountains." 

We  now  turn  back  to  Daniel  to  ascertain  to 
what  our  Lord  refers.  We  there  find  several  para- 
graphs in  diflferent  places,  in  the  prophecy,  em- 
bodying nearly  the  same  idea  or  fact.  At  pres- 
ent we  have  only  to  do  with  one  of  them.  We 
have  endeavored  in  a  former  chapter  to  show  that 
the  "  transgression  of  desolation,"  mentioned  in  the 
thirteenth  verse  of  the  eighth  chapter,  refers  to  oc- 
currences which  did  not  take  place  until  centuries 
after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus.     To 


CHRIST'S  ANSWER   TO  HIS  DISCIPLES.       179 

what,  then,  does  our  Lord  refer  in  his  quotation 
in  this  conversation  with  his  disciples  ?  It  will  be 
remembered  that  in  the  ninth  chapter,  Daniel  re- 
cords a  vision,  showing  forth  the  time  of  the  corn- 
ing of  the  Saviour  and  of  his  ministry,  and  then 
says  :  '*  After  threescore  and  two  weeks  shall  Mes- 
siah be  cut  off,  but  not  for  himself:  And  the  people 
of  the  Prince  that  shall  come,  shall  destroy  the  city  and 
the  sanctuary.  And  the  end  thereof  shall  be  with  a 
flood,  and  unto  the  end  of  the  war  desolations  are 
determined."  '*  And  for  the  overspreading  of  abomi- 
nations, he  shall  make  it  desolate,  even  until  the  con- 
summation shall  be  poured  upon  the  desolated  It 
will  be  perceived  that  the  desolation  here  spoken 
of  immediately  follows,  in  the  same  vision,  the  com- 
ing, ministry  and  death  of  our  Lord,  and  thence 
may  well  be  presumed  to  allude  to  the  terrible  oc- 
currences to  take  place  immediately  thereafter. 
And  to  this  our  Lord  undoubtedly  refers.  In  an- 
swer therefore  to  the  first  question,  he  cites  this 
prophecy,  and  warns  them,  that  when  they  shall 
see  this  abomination  of  desolation,  they  must  ex- 
pect to  witness  the  fulfillment  of  his  prediction, 
that  there  shall  not  be  left  one  stone  upon  another ; 
undoubtedly  referring  to  the  desolation  brought 
upon  Jerusalem,  by  the  army  of  Titus  ;  and  after- 
wards of  Adrian.    "  In  the  second  year  of  the  reign 


l8o  TEE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

of  Vespatian,  a.  d.  70,  the  city  of  Jerusalem  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Titus.  It  was  then  given  up  to  be 
plundered  by  the  soldiers,  and  most  of  the  inhabi- 
tants were  put  to  the  sword.  In  conformity  to  the 
orders  of  Titus,  the  city  was  destroyed  to  its  foun- 
dations ;  and  even  the  ruins  of  the  temple  were 
demolished.  A  plowshare,  it  is  said,  was  drawn 
over  the  consecrated  ground,  as  a  sign  of  perpet- 
ual interdiction."  Subsequently  many  Jews  re- 
turned, and  rebuilt  some  parts  of  the  city ;  but  "  in 
process  of  time  the  Jews  incensed  Adrian,  by  their 
turbulent  disposition,  and  he  resolved  to  level  the 
city  of  Jerusalem  with  the  ground,  that  is,  those 
buildings  which  the  Jews  had  erected,  to  destroy 
those  towers  that  were  left  by  Titus,"  "  and  to  sow 
salt  on  the  ground  on  which  the  city  had  stood. 
Thus  did  Titus  and  Adrian,  whatever  were  their 
motives,  literally  fulfill  the  prediction  of  our  Sav- 
ior, that  neither  in  the  cit}''  nor  in  the  temple, 
should  one  stone  be  left  upon  another."  This  is  a 
full,  definite  and  perfect  answer  to  the  first  ques- 
tion of  the  disciples. 

The  second  question  propounded  by  them  was. 
"  What  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming  ?"  The  com- 
ments upon  the  answer  to  the  first  question,  by  our 
Lord,  are  continued  to  the  close  of  the  twenty- 
second  verse.    Afterwards,  he  discourses  upon  the 


GEBIST'S  AWSWEE   TO  HIS  DISCIPLES.         i8l 

same  subject,  but  to  a  more  remote  period.  "  Then," 
which  would  be  much  better,  more  easily  under- 
stood, and  equally  correct,  "  Thereafter,  or  "  After 
that,"  if  any  man  shall  say  unto  you,  Lo !  here  is 
Christ ;  or  Lo !  there :  believe  it  not :  For  there 
shall  arise  false  Christs  and  false  prophets,  and 
shall  show  great  signs  and  wonders,  insomuch  that, 
if  it  were  possible,  they  shall  deceive  the  very 
elect."  In  the  same  conversation,  as  recorded  by 
Luke,  he  says :  '*  They,"  the  people  of  Jerusalem, 
at  the  desolation  of  Titus,  "  shall  fall  by  the  edge  of 
the  sword,  and  shall  be  led  away  captive  into  all  na- 
tions ;"  and  then  his  discourse  proceeds,  as  evidently 
before,  probably  intentionally,  without  much  regard 
to  order  or  system  to  the  history  of  Jerusalem  at 
a  later  period.  "  And  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden 
down  of  the  Gentiles  until  the  times  of  the  Gentiles 
shall  be  fulfilled."  This,  as  has  been  shown,  in  a  for- 
mer chapter,  refers  to  the  possession  of  Palestine 
by  the  Saracens  and  Turks ;  and  now,  reverting  to 
the  question  of  the  disciples,  "  What  shall  be  the 
sign  of  thy  coming?"  and  also  recollecting  the 
terrible  scourges  which  are  to  fall  upon  our  race 
during  the  forty-five  years  predicted  by  Daniel, 
He  says :  **  There  shall  be  signs  in  the  sun,  and  in 
the  moon,  and  in  the  stars ;  and  upon  the  earth,  dis- 
tress of  nations  ;  men's  hearts  failing  them  for  fear, 


1 82  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

and  for  looking  after  those  things  which  are  com- 
ing on  the  earth ;  for  the  powers  of  heaven  shall  be 
shaken,"  exactly  corresponding  with  what  has  be- 
fore been  said  in  the  third  chapter  of  the  second  of 
Peter:  "And  then,"  (that  is,  afterwards,)  "shall  ap- 
pear the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven  ;  and  then 
shall  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they 
shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven,  with  power  and  great  glory."  Could  he 
have  made  his  answer  more  clear  and  intelligible, 
unless,  indeed,  he  had  gone  beyond  the  disciples' 
inquiry,  and  given  the  day  and  year  of  our  era  of 
his  actual  appearance  ? 

We  now  come  to  the  third  and  last  question, 
"What"  [shall  be  the  sign]  "of  the  end  of  the 
world  ?"  or  more  properly,  "  the  consummation  of 
time."  His  answer  to  this  is  as  brief  and  explicit 
as  it  well  could  be.  "  Tiiis  gospel  of  the  kingdom 
shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world  as  a  witness  to 
all  nations  ;  and  then  shall  the  end  eoine''  No 
stronger  argument  for  missions  to  the  heathen  can 
be  adduced  than  is  comprised  in  this  short  sen- 
tence. Here  Ave  are  informed,  by  an  authority 
which  cannot  be  disputed,  that  there  has  not  been 
an  age  since  he  lived  in  which  it  was  not  abso- 
lutely at  the  will  of  the  Christians  of  the  existing 
generation  to  bring  about  the  end  of  the  world  or 


CHRIST'S  ANSWER   TO  HIS  DISCIPLES.        183 

the  close  of  our  dispensation.  But  on  this  point 
all  Christians  appear,  until  a  few  years,  to  have 
been  thoughtless  in  the  extreme,  making  no,  or 
ver}^  little,  effort  to  fulfill  Christ's  last  command  to 
go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel.  The 
desire  to  convert  mankind  is  doubtless  a  strong  im- 
pelling motive  and  a  very  powerful  one  to  prose- 
cute foreign  missions.  Biit  if  this  were  the  only 
one,  there  would  be  room  for  discouragement. 
The  efforts  of  the  most  self-denying  and  laborious 
ministers  may  be  futile.  Missionaries  have  been 
known  to  preach  for  nearly  twenty  years  without 
a  convert ;  and  if  we  cast  a  look  over  Christian 
countries,  we  see  so  small  a  part  of  the  existing 
population  evangelically  pious,  that  the  most  de- 
termined zeal  might  flag  if  the  conversion  of  the 
world  was  the  end  required  by  God.  But  there  is 
no  such  command  given  here.  Christ's  injunction 
upon  his  disciples  is  imperative,  to  go  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  gospel.  And  then  here  he 
solemnly  affirms  that  ''this  gospel  of  the  kingdom 
shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world  for  a  witness  to  all 
nations.  And  this  is  all.  We  are  not  to  wait  a 
single  day  for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  '■'TJien 
shall  the  end  come."  The  command  and  the  prom- 
ise are  equally  obligatory  and  full,  even  if  a  single 
heathen  had  never  been  or  never  should  be  con- 


1 84  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

verted  ;  and  whether  one  shall  ever  be  converted  or 
not,  every  Christian  is  bound  by  the  most  solemn 
obligations  to  labor  to  effect  this  end — the  procla- 
mation of  the  gospel  to  all  nations.  So  far  as  the 
effect  is  concerned,  our  duty  being  done,  we  have 
no  responsibility.  That  the  preaching  of  the  gos- 
pel will  not  be  altogether  successful,  we  may  well 
infer  from  the  intimation  everywhere  given  in 
Scripture,  that  at  the  great  day  of  the  Lord,  im- 
mense numbers  will  still  be  his  enemies,  and  will 
be  turned  into  hell. 

"  This  generation,"  says  our  Savior,  "  shall  not 
pass  till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled."  The  word 
"generation"  as  used  here,  has  occasioned  a  good 
deal  of  doubt  and  difficulty,  which  might  easily 
have  been  removed.  It  has  largely  been  under- 
stood as  only  meaning  an  ordinary  age  of  man, 
while  the  original  word,  although  correctly  trans- 
lated "  generation,"  ordinarily,  yet  may,  with  per- 
fect propriety,  in  this  place  be  "  dispensation" — the 
word  meaning  "  an  age,"  in  its  largest  sense,  as 
the  "golden  age,"  the  "age  of  chivalry,"  etc.;  so 
the  paragraph  should  read :  "  This  dispensation 
shall  not  pass  till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled." 

Speaking  of  the  same  amazing  occurrences,  just 
recited  by  our  Lord,  the  prophet  Joel  in  the  sec- 
ond chapter  and  tenth  verse,  says :  "  The  earth  shall 


CHMIST'S  AN'8W:EIi  TO  HIS  DISCIPLES.        185 

quake  before  them  ;  the  heavens  shall  tremble  ;  the 
sun  and  moon  shall  be  dark ;  and  the  stars  shall 
withdraw  their  shining ;  and  the  Lord  shall  utter 
his  voice  before  his  army ;  for  his  camp  is  very 
great ;  for  he  is  strong  that  executeth  his  words ; 
for  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  very  terrible,  and  who 
can  abide  it?" 

So  in  the  thirtieth  verse,  "  And  I  will  show  won- 
ders in  the  heavens,  and  in  the  earth,  blood  and  fire 
and  pillars  of  smoke.  The  sun  shall  be  turned  into 
darkness  and  the  moon  into  blood,  before  the  great 
and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord  come."  So  in  the 
gospel  according  to  Mark,  thirteenth  chapter  and 
twenty-fourth  verse,  we  have  the  same  conversa- 
tion ol  Christ  with  his  disciples  as  quoted  from 
Matthew,  varying  somewhat  in  phraseology :  "  But 
in  those  days,  after  that  tribulation,  the  sun  shall 
be  darkened  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light, 
and  the  stars  of  heaven  shall  fall,  and  the  powers 
that  are  in  heaven  shall  be  shaken."  And  to  the 
same  purport  is  the  statement  in  the  sixth  chapter 
of  the  Revelation,  from  the  twelfth  to  the  seven- 
teenth verse,  inclusive.  Recurring  again  to  the 
explanation  of  the  Scriptural  symbols  we  find,  "the 
symbolical  heaven,  when  interpreted  temporally, 
signifies  the  whole  body  politic.  As  such  it  com- 
prehends the  sun,  or  the  sovereign  power,  whereso- 


1 86  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

ever  it  be  lodged ;  the  moon,  or  the  people,  which 
is  the  allegorical  wife  of  the  sovereign  power,  and 
the  stars,  or  the  princes  and  nobles  of  the  realm." 
"  Such  being  the  case,  the  blackening  of  the  sun, 
the  turning  the  moon  into  blood,  the  falling  of  the 
stars  and  the  departing  of  the  heavens  like  a  scroll, 
will  mean  either  the  subversion  of  a  kingdom  or 
the  subversion  of  an  empire,  according  as  the  tenor 
of  the  prophecy  shall  require."  A  consideration 
of  all  these  prophecies  brings  us  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  will  be  a  period,  according  to  Daniel,  of 
forty-five  years,  in  which — and  in  this  he  is  cor- 
roborated by  numerous  other  prophecies — there 
will  be  a  condition  of  the  world  involving  unexam- 
pled tumults  and  convulsions,  with  unspeakable 
tribulations ;  that  immediately  after  these  troubles 
shall  have  passed,  and  consequent  upon  them,  all 
the  governments  of  the  world,  secular  and  ecclesi- 
astical, will  be  subverted  and  extinguished,  and  all 
the  enemies  of  God  consumed ;  and  all  this,  that 
the  whole  earth  may  be  purified  as  by  fire,  and  the 
new  Jerusalem  prepared  for  a  reign  of  righteous- 
ness, when  the  tabernacle  of  God  shall  be  with 
men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall 
be  his  people,  and  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb 
shall  be  in  it."  "  And  He  that  sitteth  on  the  throne 
shall  dwell  among  tJiemr 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

THE   COMING   OF   OUR   LORD. 

WE  now  approach  the  consummation  and 
glorious  cHmacteric  of  God's  Christian 
dispensation  to  men.  While  Christ  himself  tells 
us  that  immediately  after  those  tribulations  the 
sun  shall  be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give 
her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  the 
prophet  Joel  sa)^s  what  might  seem,  at  first  sight, 
contradictory ;  namely,  that "  the  sun  shall  be  turned 
into  darkness  and  the  moon  into  blood,  before  the 
great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord  come."  This 
is,  however,  in  perfect  consistency  with  all  the 
events  so  minutely  and  graphically  recorded. 

First  come  the  forty-five  years  of  trouble,  such 
as  has  not  been  known  since  men  inhabited  our 
world.  Then  in  the  order  of  events  follows  the 
subversion  of  the  whole  fabric  of  society,  civil  and 
ecclesiastical.     "And   then,"   says   our   Savior,  in 

(187) 


1 88  TUE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

the  30th  verse  of  the  24th  chapter  of  Matthew,. 
"  and  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Soo  of  man 
in  heaven,  and  then  shall  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth 
mourn  :  and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  with  power  and  great 
glory  :  and  he  shall  send  his  angels  with  a  great 
sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  they  shall  gather  together 
his  elect  from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of 
heaven  to  the  other."  In  the  second  of  Thessalo- 
nians,  first  chapter  and  7th  and  8th  verses:  "The 
Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his 
mighty  angels,  in  flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance  on 
them  that  know  not  God  and  obey  not  the  gospel 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  It  will  be  seen  from 
these  quotations,  that  while  Joel  in  his  prophecy 
refers  to  the  terrible  tribulations  which  precede  the 
coming  of  our  Savior,  and  desolate  the  world  for 
the  period  of  forty-five  years,  our  Savior  in  his 
discourse  refers  to  the  equally,  and,  perhaps,  still 
more,  awful  woes,  which  succeed  his  coming  :  the 
first  relating  more  particuFarly  to  the  tumults  and 
convulsions  of  a  secular  nature,  while  the  last  evi- 
dently relates  to  the  judgment  of  Christ,  taking 
vengeance  on  those  who  know  not  God. 

The  whole  of  this  scene  of  tribulation  and  sor- 
row and  anguish,  simultaneously  with  the  coming 
of  our  Lord,  is  strikingly  presented  to  us  in  the 


TEE  COMING   OF  OUR  LORD.  189 

6th  chapter  of  Revelation,  verses  12th  to  the  end 
of  the  chapter,  inclusive  :  "  And  I  beheld  when  he 
had  opened  the  sixth  seal,  and  lo !  there  was  a 
great  earthquake,  and  the  sun  became  black  as 
sackcloth  of  hair ;  and  the  moon  became  as  blood ; 
and  the  stars  of  heaven  fell  to  the  earth,  even  as 
a  fig-tree  casteth  her  untimely  figs,  when  she  is 
shaken  of  a  mighty  wind  ;  and  the  heaven  departed 
as  a  scroll  when  it  its  rolled  together  ;  and  every 
mountain  and  island  were  removed  out  of  their 
places  ;  and  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  the  great 
men  and  the  rich  men,  and  the  chief  captains,  and 
the  mighty  men,  and  every  bondman  and  every 
freeman,  hid  themselves  in  the  dens  and  in  the 
rocks  of  the  mountains,  and  said  to  the  mountains 
and  the  rocks.  Fall  on  us  and  hide  us  from  the  face 
of  him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  from  the 
wrath  of  the  lamb,  for  the  great  day  of  his  wrath 
is  come,  and  who  shall  be  able  to  stand?" 

The  coming  of  our  Lord  is  further  exemplified 
by  St.  Paul  in  his  first  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians, 
the  4th  chapter  and  15th  verse  :  "  For  this  we  say 
unto  you  by  the  word  of  the  Lord,  that  we  which  are 
alive  and  remain  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord, 
shall  not  prevent  them  which  are  asleep."  "  For 
(at  this  eventful  period)  the  Lord  himself  shall  de- 
scend from  heaven,  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of 


190 


THE  TIMES  OF  DANIEL. 


the  archangel,  and  'with  the  trump  of  God,  and 
the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first." 

In  the  minds  of  many  the  second  appearance  of 
our  Lord  has  not  only  been  questioned,  but  has 
become  apocryphal.  In  addition  to  the  unanswer- 
able inference  from  what  has  been  already  written, 
several  more  passages  from  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament  may  be  cited.  In  the  27th  verse  of  the 
24th  chapter  of  Matthew,  our  Lord  himself  says : 
"  For  as  the  lightning  cometh  out  of  the  east,  and 
shineth  even  unto  the  Avest,  so  shall  also  the  com- 
ing of  the  Son  of  man  be."  And  in  the  25th  chap- 
ter and  31st  verse,  "When  the  Son  of  man  shall 
come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him, 
then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory,  and 
before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  the  nations,  and 
he  shall  separate  them  one  from  another,  as  a  shep- 
herd divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats."  In  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  in  the  9th  verse  of  the  ist 
chapter,  we  are  told  that  while  the  apostles  beheld, 
"  he  was  taken  up*,  and  a  cloud  received  him  out 
of  their  sight,"  "  and  while  they  looked  steadfastly 
towards  heaven  as  he  went  up,  two  men  stood  by 
them  in  white  apparel,  which  also  said.  Ye  men  of 
Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing  up.  into  heaven? 
This  same  Jesits,  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into 
heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner,  as  ye  have  seen 


THE  COMING    OF   OUR  LORD. 


191 


him  go  into  heaven."  In  the  first  of  Corinthians, 
first  chapter  and  seventh  verse,  Paul  says :  "  So 
that  ye  come  behind  in  no  gift,  waiting  for  the 
coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  So  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  first  of  Thessalonians,  tenth  verse, 
"  And  to  wait  for  his  Son  from  heaven,  whom  he 
raised  from  the  dead."  Also  the  nineteenth  verse 
of  the  second  chapter  :  "  For  what  is  our  hope,  or 
joy,  or  crown  of  rejoicing  ?  Are  not  even  )'e  in 
the  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at  his  com- 
ing?" And  in  the  thirteenth  verse  of  the  third 
chapter  :  "  To  the  end  he  may  establish  your 
hearts,  unblamable  in  holiness  before  God,  even 
our  Father,  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
with  all  his  saints."  In  the  twenty-third  verse  of 
the  fifth  chapter,  he  says :  '*  And  I  pray  God,  your 
whole  spirit  and  soul  and  body  be  preserved  blame- 
less, unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
To  the  same  purport,  in  the  second  of  Thessalo- 
nians, first  chapter  and  seventh  verse  :  "  When  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven 
w^ith  his  mighty  angels,  in  flaming  fire."  And  in 
the  eighth  verse  of  the  second  chapter :  "  Then 
shall  that  wicked  be  revealed,  whom  the  Lord  shall 
consume  with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  shall  de- 
stroy with  the  brightness  of  his  coming."  So  in 
the  fifth  verse  of  the  third  chapter :  "  And  the  Lord 


192  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

direct  your  hearts  into  the  love  of  God,  and  into 
the  patient  waiting  for  Christ"  In  the  Epistle  of 
James,  fifth  chapter  and  seventh  and  eighth  verses  : 
"  Be  patient,  therefore,  brethren,  unto  the  coming 
of  the  Lord."  "  Establish  your  hearts,  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh."  In  the  second 
chapter  of  the  first  of  John,  twenty-eighth  verse : 
"  And  now,  little  children,  abide  in  him  ;  that  when 
he  shall  appear,  we  may  have  confidence  and  not 
be  ashamed  before  him  at  his  coming." 

The  mere  reading  these,  and  like  passages  scat- 
tered through  the  New  Testament,  seem  to  convey 
instant  conviction  to  the  mind,  that  they  shadow 
forth  the  time  mentioned  by  Daniel,  when  he  says : 
"  Blessed  is  he  that  waiteth  and  cometh  to  the 
thousand  three  hundred  and  five  and  thirty  years." 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THE   MILLENNIUM. 

IN  the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  Revelation  of 
Saint  John,  and  sixth  verse,  we  are  informed  in 
language  very  similar  to  that  of  Daniel :  "  Blessed 
and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  the  first  resurrec- 
tion. On  such  the  second  death  hath  no  power; 
but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God  and  of  Christ,  and 
shall  reign  with  him  a  thousand  years."  This  is 
what  is  usually  denominated  the  millennium.  Of 
the  state  and  condition  of  this  period,  it  would 
gratify  our  curiosity,  at  least,  could  we  be  more 
fully  advised  than  Revelation  enlightens  us.  But 
it  cannot  be  denied,  that  while  the  fact  of  such  a 
consummation  is  affirmed,  with  unquestionable  cer- 
tainty, very  meagre  information  is  communicated 
to  us  in  relation  to  the  peculiar  conditions  which 
surround  God's  people  during  its  blessed  continu- 
ance. In  the  first  and  second  verses  of  the  same 
9  (193) 


194  THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

chapter,  it  is  said  ;  "  I  saw  an  angel  come  down 
from  heaven,  having  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit, 
and  a  great  chain  in  his  hand,  and  he  laid  hold  on 
the  dragon,  that  old  serpent,  which  is  the  Devil  and 
Satan,  and  bound  him  a  thousand  years."  And  in 
the  fourth  verse  :  "  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon 
them,  and  judgment  was  given  unto  them  ;  and  I 
saw  the  souls  of  them  that  were  beheaded  for  the 
witness  of  Jesus  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and 
which  had  not  worshiped  the  beast,  neither  his  im- 
age, neither  had  received  his  mark  upon  their  fore- 
heads, or  in  their  hands  ;  and  they  lived  and  reign- 
ed with  Christ  a  thousand  years."  That  "great 
serpent,  the  Devil  and  Satan,"  tempted  our  first  par- 
ents to  their  mortal  sin  ;  and  from  that  time  till  the 
present,  he  has  been  going  about  like  a  "  roaring 
lion,"  seeking  whom  he  might  devour.  As  one  of 
the  grand  features  of  this  blessed  season,  no  single 
fact  could  be  more  appropriate,  necessary  and  bliss- 
ful than  the  dispossession  of  Satan  of  his  power,  so 
long  exercised  to  the  ruin  of  vast  multitudes  of 
our  race.  Although  in  Daniel  nothing  is  said 
which  defines  the  duration  of  this  period,  yet  the 
correspondence  between  his  vision  in  the  seventh 
chapter  and  this  of  St.  John  is  very  striking  and 
impressive :  "  I  beheld  till  the  thrones  were  cast 
down,  and  the  Ancient  of  days  did  sit,  whose  gar- 


THE  MILLENNIUM.  1 95 

ment  was  white  as  snow,  and  the  hair  of  his  head 
hke  the  pure  wool ;  his  throne  was  the  fiery  flame, 
his  wheels  burning  fire ;  a  fiery  stream  issued  and 
came  forth  before  him  ;  thousand  thousands  minis- 
tered unto  him,  and  ten  thousand  times  ten  thou- 
sand stood  before  him  ;  the  judgment  was  set  and 
the  books  were  opened.  I  beheld  then,  because 
of  the  voice  of  the  great  words  which  the  horn 
spake ;  I  beheld  even  till  the  beast  was  slain,  and 
his  body  destroyed  and  given  to  the  burning  flame." 
"  I  saw  in  the  night  visions,  and  behold  one  like  the 
Son  of  man  came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and 
came  to  the  Ancient  of  days,  and  they  brought  him 
near  before  him.  And  there  was  given  him  do- 
minion and  glory  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  people, 
nations  and  languages  should  serve  him."  The  six- 
teenth chapter  of  Isaiah  would  seem  to  meet  the 
contingencies  of  no  other  period  of  the  world's  his- 
tory :  '^  Violence  shall  no  more  be  heard  in  th}- 
land  ;  wasting  nor  destruction  within  thy  borders ; 
but  thou  shalt  call  thy  walls  salvation  and  th} 
gates  praise.  The  sun  shall  be  no  more  thy  light 
by  day ;  neither  for  brightness  shall  the  moon  give 
light  unto  thee  ;  but  the  Lord  shall  be  unto  thee 
an  everlasting  light,  and  thy  God  thy  glory.  Thy 
sun  shall  no  more  go  down ;  neither  shall  thy 
moon  withdraw  itself;  for  the  Lord  shall  be  thine 


196  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

everlasting  light,  and  the  days  of  thy  mourning 
shall  be  ended.  Thy  people  also  shall  be  all  right- 
eous ;  they  shall  inherit  the  land  forever,  the  branch 
of  my  planting,  the  work  of  my  hands,  that  I  may 
be  glorified."  So  the  like  facts  are  reaffirmed  in  the 
sixty-fifth  chapter :  "  Behold,  I  create  new  heavens, 
and  a  new  earth  ;  and  the  former  shall  not  be  re- 
membered, nor  come  into  mind.  Be  ye  glad  and 
rejoice  forever:  for  behold  I  create  Jerusalem  a  re- 
joicing and  her  people  a  joy ;  and  the  voice  of 
weeping  shall  be  no  more  heard  in  her,  nor  the 
voice  of  crying."  Isaiah  also  in  the  eleventh  chap- 
ter refers  in  strong  terms  to  the  same  blessed  pe- 
riod :  "  The  wolf  shall  also  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and 
the  leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid  ;  and  the 
calf  and  the  young  lion  and  the  fatling  together; 
and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them.  The  suckina;- 
child  shall  play  upon  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and  the 
weaned  child  shall  put  his  hand  on  the  cockatrice's 
den  ;  they  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy 
mountain."  In  Zechariah  we  are  told  "  the  Lord 
shall  be  king  over  all  the  earth." 

But  nearly  all  we  can  learn  of  this  happy  period, 
we  gather  from  the  Apocalypse  :  "  After  this  I  be- 
held, and  lo !  a  great  multitude  which  no  man 
could  number,  of  all  nations  and  kindreds  and  peo- 
ple and  tongues,  stood  before  the  throne  and  before 


THE  MILLENNIUM.  ig; 

the  lamb,  clothed  with  white  robes  and  palms  in 
their  hands ;  and  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  say- 
ing, Salvation  to  our  God,  which  sitteth  upon  the 
throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb."  "And  I  saw  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth  ;  for  the  first  heaven  and 
the  first  earth  were  passed  away,  and  there  was  no 
more  sea.''  We  repeat  what  was  before  quoted  of 
this  symbol  from  Faber:  "The  sea,  ever  turbulent 
and  restless,  represents  nations  in  a  tumultviary  or 
revolutionary  state."  This  indicates  a  condition 
of  perfect  peace,  when  swords  shall  be  beaten  into 
plowshares  and  spears  into  pruning-  hooks.  "  And 
I,  John,  saw  the  holy  city,  New  Jerusalem,  coming 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a  bride 
adorned  for  her  husband.  And  I  heard  a  great 
voice  out  of  heaven,  saying,  Behold  the  tabernacle 
of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will  dzvell  tvitJi  them,  and 
they  shall  be  his  people  ;  and  God  himself  shall  be 
with  them  and  be  their  God."  "  And  he  carried 
me  away  in  the  spirit  to  a  great  and  high  moun- 
tain, and  showed  me  that  great  city,  the  holy  Jeru- 
salem, descending  out  of  heaven  from  God,  having 
the  glory  of  God  ;  and  I  saw  no  temple  therein  ; 
for  the  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the 
temple  of  it.  And  the  city  had  no  need  of  the  sun, 
neither  of  the  moon  to  shine  in  it ;  for  the  glory  of 
God  did  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  there- 


1 98  TUE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

of.  And  the  nations  of  them  which  are  saved  shall 
walk  in  the  light  of  it."  "  And  there  shall  be  no 
more  curse;  but  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the 
Lamb  shall  be  in  it ;  and  his  servants  shall  serve 
him,  and  they  shall  see  his  face  ;  and  there  shall 
be  no  night  there."  Such  is  the  condition,  so  far 
as  known,  of  God's  people  during  this  succession 
of  blissful  years. 

In  the  third  verse  of  the  twentieth  chapter  of 
Revelation,  we  are  told  that  after  this  happy  ex- 
perience of  a  thousand  years,  in  which  Satan  had 
been  bound,  crippled,  and,  doubtless,  divested  of 
all  power  to  influence  and  pervert  mankind,  "  he 
must  be  loosed  a  little  season."  And  in  the  seventh 
verse  and  onward  :  "And  when  the  thousand  years 
are  expired,  Satan  shall  be  loosed  out  of  his  prison, 
and  shall  go  about  to  deceive  the  nations  which 
are  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  Gog  and  Ma- 
gog, to  gather  them  together  to  battle."  How  ear- 
nestly soever  we  may  desire  to  pry  into  the  polity 
and  condition  of  this  world  at  the  time  and  before 
Gog  and  Magog  shall  thus  meet  in  deadly  conflict, 
we  cannot  even  frame  a  theory  applicable  to  it,  inas- 
much as  He,  who  has  revealed  so  much,  has  seen 
fit  to  close  up  the  books,  and  leave  us  in  ignorance. 
Our  aspirations  must  therefore  cease  with  the  close 
of  our  own  dispensation,  and  all  the  rest  of  our 


THE  MILLENNIUM.  1 99 

knowledge  must  be  derived  from  the  fruition  of 
Heaven,  as  it  may  be  hereafter  experienced,  or 
from  some  future  revelation. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

SUMMARY   AND   CONCLUSION. 

HAVING  thus  given  our  views  of  this  most 
wonderful  prophecy,  so  far  as  the  "  times  " 
mentioned  by  Daniel  are  concerned,  we  have  now 
only  to  present  a  summary  of  our  argument,  that 
the  reader  may  the  more  perfectly  comprehend 
our  whole  theory.  The  first  six  chapters  of  Dan- 
iel relate  to  matters  entirely  distinct  from  those 
which  are  revealed  in  the  last  six  ;  which  last  six 
alone  form  the  subject  of  consideration  in  this  ar- 
gument. 

Beginning  with  the  ninth  chapter,  Daniel  there 
informs  us,  that  in  the  first  year  of  Darius  the  Mede, 
namely  the  year  560  before  Christ,  "  he  set  his  face 
unto  the  Lord,"  evidently  making  supplication  as 
to  matters  relating  to  the  seventy  years  of  the  des- 
olation of  Jerusalem.  He  received  an  answer, 
but  upon  a  subject  differing  greatly  from  that  which 
(200) 


SUMMARY  AND    CONCLUSION  20 1 

formed  the  burden  of  his  prayer.  He  is  informed 
of  the  birth,  ministry  and  death  of  Messiah,  that  he 
shall  be  cut  off,  but  not  for  himself.  He  also  fore- 
tells the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  soon  after,  and 
the  "  overspreading  of  abominations  "  "  until  the 
consummation  shall  be  poured  upon  the  desolate." 
Upon  this  we  present  no  new  view,  as  all  Chris- 
tians have,  from  the  first,  so  far  as  known,  agreed 
in  their  application  and  fulfillment. 

Here  commences  our  departure  from  the  system 
of  interpretation  heretofore  given  by  those  who 
have  taken  the  subject  in  hand.  Our  theory 
assumes  that  the  last  six  chapters  of  Daniel  relate 
to,  and  only  to,  the  Christian  dispensation,  except- 
ing so  far  as  other  matters  become  incidentally  and 
closely  connected  with  the  purposes  of  that  dispen- 
sation, and  that,  treated  in  this  light,  the  prophecy 
becomes  a  symmetrical  and  almost  perfect  photo- 
graph of  the  trials,  successes,  discouragements,  per- 
secutions and  final  victory  of  God's  people. 

Two  years  after  the  vision  recorded  in  the  ninth 
chapter,  namely,  in  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Bel- 
shazzar,  he  had  another  vision,  with  a  part  of  which, 
relating,  as  is  supposed,  to  Roman  history,  previous 
to  the  delivery  of  the  saints  into  the  power  of  anti- 
christ, we  do  not  meddle,  as  it  is  one-side  of  the 
plan  herein  proposed.  After  those  revelations,  sud- 
9* 


202  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

denly  his  vision  extended  down  to  the  very  close 
of  the  Christian  dispensation,  until  the  final  victory 
of  the  "  Ancient  of  days."  At  his  request  an  inter- 
pretation was  given,  resulting  in  the  same  victorious 
conclusion  :  "  I  beheld  until  the  same  horn  made 
war  with  the  saints,  and  prevailed  against  them  ; 
until  the  Ancient  of  days  came,  and  judgment  was 
given  to  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  and  the  time 
came  that  the  saints  possessed  the  kingdom."  In 
his  explanation  the  person  of  whom  Daniel  inquir- 
ed informed  him  that  he  (the  same  persecuting 
power)  "  shall  speak  great  words  against  the  Most 
High,  and  shall  wear  out  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High,  and  think  to  change  times  and  laws  ;  and 
they  shall  be  given  into  his  hand,  until  a  time,  and 
times  and  the  dividing  of  time.  But  the  judg- 
ment shall  sit,  and  they  shall  take  away  his  do- 
minion to  consume  and  to  destroy  it  unto  the  end." 
Assuming  the  delivery  of  thje  saints  into  the  hand 
of  this  persecuting  power  to  have  been  the  invest- 
ing of  Boniface  with  the  Supreme  Pontificate,  in 
the  year  607,  it  seems  a  necessary  consequence 
that  this  power  must  be  consumed  and  finally  des- 
troyed in  the  year  1867. 

In  the  eighth  chapter,  he  has  recorded  another 
vision  principally  relating  to  the  "  ram  "  and  "  he- 
goat,"  and  after  giving  an  accountof  their  victories 


SUMMABY  AXD    CONCLUSION.  203 

and  defents,  Daniel  is  informed  that  the  sanctuary 
shall  be  cleansed  in  (according  to  the  Septuagint) 
two  thousand  four  hundred  years.  And  he  is  again 
informed  by  a  vision  in  the  tenth  chapter  that  the 
time  for  consuming  will  last  twenty-one  years, 
which  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-one 
years,  from  the  time  the  answer  was  given,  would 
end  in  the  year  1867,  coinciding  exactly  with  the 
end  of  the  former  time,  times  and  half  a  time. 
Thus  the  period  alluded  to  and  foretold  is  shown 
by  two  distinct  processes  of  reasoning,  founded 
upon  two  distinct  prophecies,  and  should  end  in  the 
same  year  1867. 

The  next  great  event  in  the  history  of  the  church 
is  the  rise  and  j)rogress  of  Mahometanism,  and  its 
overspreading  and  subjecting  to  its  domination  the 
Holy  Land.  It  is  shown  that  the  Holy  City,  Jer- 
usalem, was  subjugated  by  the  Mahometan  power 
in  637,  and  from  Christ  and  St.  John,  as  well  as 
from  Daniel,  that  this  subjugation  shall  continue  for 
the  space  of  1260  3^ears.  In  Daniel,  twelfth  chapter 
and  seventh  verse,  we  are  assured  that  this  dom- 
ination shall  continue  for  a  "  time,  times  and  a 
half;  "  while  in  the  Revelation  of  St.  John  we  are 
told  that  the  Holy  City  shall  be  trodden  down  of 
the  gentiles  "forty  and  two  months,"  which,  in 
prophetic  language,  implies  the  same  time  exactly. 


204 


THE   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 


But  in  addition  to  these  two  processes  of  proof, 
founded  upon  two  widely  different  prophecies, 
Daniel,  as  if  to  leave  us  without  excuse  for  misun- 
derstanding him,  in  the  answer  to  another  question 
is  informed  that  it  shall  be  1290  years,  not  from  the 
taking-  of  Jerusalem,  from  which  epoch  the  former 
time  must  be  reckoned,  but  "  from  the  time  that 
the  daily  sacrifice  shall  be  taken  away,"  and  the 
abomination  that  maketh  desolate  be  set  up.  Now 
as  we  have  proved,  in  discoursing  upon  another  por- 
tion of  the  prophecy,  that  this  was  when  Boniface 
was  made  Universal  Bishop,  in  607,  the  1290  will 
end  in  1897,  precisely  the  time  when,  according  to 
St.  John,  Jerusalem  shall  cease  to  be  trodden  down 
of  the  Gentiles.  Here  are  three  distinct  prophecies, 
made  at  different  times,  by  two  different  prophets, 
under  very  different  circumstances,  all  culminating 
in  precisely  the  same  year  of  our  era. 

The  main  part  of  the  eleventh  chapter  is,  it  can- 
not be  doubted,  devoted  to  what  is  commonly 
known  as  the  "  Holy  Wars,"  in  which  the  Saracens 
and  Turks  have  acted  so  distinguished  a  part.  The 
third,  fourth  and  fifth  verses  are  so  clearly  drawn 
as  to  leave,  apparently,  no  room  for  doubt  that  they 
are  intended  to  describe  the  wars  and  ruin  of  Chos- 
roes  and  the  initiation  of  the  power  of  the  Caliphs 
over  Palestine.     We  are  then  told,  in  the  sixteenth 


SUMMAHY  AND    CONCLUSION.  205 

verse:  "  He  shall  stand  in  the  glorious  land,  which 
by  his  hand  shall  be  consumed ;"'  and  after  recount- 
ing- moi-e  battles,  in  the  thirty-sixth  verse,  he  "  shall 
prosper  till  the  indignation  be  accomplished  ;  for 
that  that  is  determined  shall  be  done."  And  then 
in  the  forty-fifth  verse,  apparently  after  all  contro- 
versy has  ceased,  and  he  has  planted  the  taberna- 
cles of  his  palace  between  the  seas,  in  the  glorious 
holy  mountain,  we  are  further  assured  that  "  he 
shall  come  to  his  end,  and  none  shall  help  him." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  these  six  chapters  of 
Daniel,  commencing  with  the  ninth  and  including 
the  seventh  and  eighth,  after  giving  an  account  of 
the  Messiah  and  the  consequent  and  immediate 
woes  of  Jerusalem,  relate  almost  entirely  to  the 
twin  delusions  of  Rome  and  Mahomet,  referring  to 
little  else  but  what  was  incidentally  and  necessa- 
rily connected  with  them. 

In  the  twelfth  chapter  he  condenses  more  amaz- 
ing and  soul-stirring  events  than  may  be  found  in 
any  other  chapter  in  all  the  Bible.  First,  Daniel 
was  informed  that  at  the  close,  and  simultaneously 
with  the  overthrow  of  the  Mahometan  power  in 
Palestine,  "  Michael  shall  stand  up,  who  standeth 
for  the  children  of  thy  people  ;"  giving  him  assur- 
ance that  at  that  time  a  change  will  commence  in 
the  destinies  of  the  Jews,  and  that  change  will  be 


2o6  THE  TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

a  happy  one,  and  sustained  by  a  power  that  cannot 
be  resisted. 

Second,  He  was  informed  that  at  that  time 
"should  commence  also  a  time  of  trouble,  such  as 
never  was  since  there  was  a  nation  ;"  by  the  phrase- 
ology clearly  indicating  that  this  trouble  will  not 
be  limited  in  its  operation  to  a  single  nation.  This 
time  of  trouble  is  referred  to  and  enlarged  upon  by 
almost  every  prophet,  both  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament ;  it  is  presented  in  every  possible  form 
of  description,  using  the  most  powerful  and  im- 
pressive symbols,  and  evidently  extending  its  bale- 
ful influence  and  withering  calamities  to  all  t!ie 
people  of  the  earth. 

Thirdly,  He  was  further  informed  that  at  that 
time,  and  probably  during  the  continuance  and  at 
the  close  of  these  tribulations,  "  th}^  people,"  that 
is,  the  people  of  the  Jews,  "  shall  be  delivered," 
"  every  one  that  shall  be  found  written  in  the  book." 
Of  this  restoration  of  the  Je\vs,  the  other  prophets 
are  full;  but  precisely  how  long  these  troubles  and 
the  process  of  restoration  will  last,  wc  are  not  in- 
formed, except  inferentially,  from  a  subsequent 
statement  of  Daniel,  v/hich,  however,  seems  to  be 
very  decisive. 

In  tho,  fourth  place,  we  are  further  informed  that 
at  that  time,  either  during  this  time  of  unspeakable 


SUMMARY  AND    CONCLUSION. 


207 


woe  to  our  race,  or  immediately  thereafter,  "  many 
of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall 
awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame 
and  everlasting  contempt."  The  same  astounding 
event  appears  to  be  recognized  and  reaffirmed  in 
the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse :  "I  saw 
the  souls  of  them  that  were  beheaded  for  the  wit- 
ness of  Jesus,  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and  (those) 
which  had  not  worshiped  the  beast,  neither  his  im- 
age, neither  had  received  his  mark  upon  their  fore- 
heads, or  in  their  hands,  and  they  lived  and  reigned 
with  Christ  a  thousand  years.  But  the  rest  of  the 
dead  lived  not  again  until  the  thousand  years  were 
finished.  Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in 
the  first  resurrection." 

Fifth,  Passing  over  the  "  time,  times  and  a  half," 
in  the  seventh  verse,  which  has  been  sufficiently 
considered  before,  we  find  an  angel,  clothed  in  linen, 
under  the  most  solemn  oath  ever  taken,  swearing 
by  Him  that  liveth  forever  and  ever,  that  when  he 
shall  have  accomplished  his  own  purposes,  in  the 
dispersion  of  his  people,  that  is,  when  their  restor- 
ation shall  have  been  completed,  then  '^  all  these 
things  shall  be  finished^ 

Sixth,  Again  passing  over  another  prophecy  of 
1290  years,  which  has  been  sufficiently  commented 
upon,  we  come  to  the  last  and  crowning-  announce- 


2o8  TUB   TIMES   OF  DANIEL. 

ment  of  his  whole  prophecy :  "  Blessed  is  he  that 
waiteth  and  cometh  to  the  thousand  three  hundred 
and  five  and  thirty  days"  (years). 

If  the  premises  assumed  in  this  argument  be  well 
taken,  and  the  reasoning  be  not  defective,  this 
blessed  consummation  must  be  fulfilled  in  or  about 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  forty-two,  or  forty-five  years  after  the  time 
mentioned  in  the  first  verse,  which  seems  to  be 
unmistakably  fixed  in  the  year  1897,  and  then  will 
Jesus  Christ  the  righteous  exercise  unlimited  "  do- 
minion from  sea  to  sea  and  from  the  river  to  the 
end  of  the  earth." 

"  Let  every  kindred,  every  tribe 
On  this  terrestrial  ball. 
To  Him  all  majesty  ascribe, 
And  crown  Him  Lord  of  all." 


THE  END. 


9;^ 


J 


DATE  DUE 

HIGHSMITH       #  45220 

The  t,mes^of*Dan.el.  An  argument. 


,  Theoloq.cal  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1012  00029  1320 


